The Danish-owned and Dutch-managed container vessel Nedlloyd Barentsz was chased for half an hour by the pirates on Tuesday, but managed to fend them off with the warship's help, the company said.

Earlier, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) had reported that the ship was British-owned.

The container ship was attacked by pirates aboard a small speedboat who fired two rocket-propelled grenades which missed their targets, a senior director at A.P. Moeller Maersk, Finn Brodersen, told AFP.

"Despite the fact that it was sailing at pretty high speed, it was exposed to an attack from a small speedboat with six people on board," Brodersen said.

The Danish ship increased speed, began evasive manoeuvres and radioed for help. A Russian vessel heard the distress signal and quickly reached the scene.

"They were able to follow the pirate boat which set course for the Yemen coast. When they entered Yemen waters the Russians had to stop following them," Brodersen said.

In November Maersk said that its ships that were too slow -- or with decks low enough for pirates to scramble aboard -- would avoid the Gulf of Aden and "seek alternative routing" around the Cape of Good Hope and Madagascar.

The Nedlloyd Barentsz was sailing at a speed of 21.5 knots when it was attacked Tuesday, then increased to 25 knots, Brodersen said.

He said the attack illustrated that the situation in the Gulf of Aden was "extremely dynamic."

"It's a little bit out of scope to attack a container vessel sailing at high speed. It shows pirates are still trying to capture vessels," he said.

He called for coordinated military measures to patrol the region's waters.

"There are a lot of warships down there but they seem to be operating on their own national mandates and we need much stronger international coordination in order to combat piracy," he said.

Noel Choong, head of the IMB piracy reporting centre, said attacks were continuing apace in the Gulf of Aden, with 11 so far this year despite an anti-pirate offensive by the international community.

However, the tighter measures including increased naval patrols, together with a more effective response by targeted vessels, are making it more difficult for sea raiders to pull off successful hijackings.

Of the 11 attacks this year, only two resulted in hijackings, a much lower "success rate" than last year, Choong said.

"Most ships are heeding our advice, keeping a 24-hour visual and radar watch, and the moment they spot the pirates, increasing speed, launching evasive measures and calling for help immediately," he said.

"A lot of the ships that escaped took all these measures."

Pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden and along the Somali coast are currently holding 11 ships with 210 crew members as hostages, the Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Centre said.

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