Series of pirate attacks worries African marine sector

Risk managers with marine interests and with supply chains involving transiting African waters should be monitoring a surge in pirate attacks on the west coast of the continent. There has been a spate of attacks in recent weeks, including several deaths in gunfights, along the west coast. There has also been the threat of attacks on the east coast off the notorious Somali coastline. All of this constitutes a serious uptick in attacks, with the west coast of Africa becoming the global hotspot for piracy. From January to September 2019, 82% of maritime kidnappings in the world occurred in the Gulf of Guinea, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Security consultancy Dryad Global, meanwhile, has reported that “trends within 2019 have shown a shift in the concentration of incidents from 2017 and 2018, from an area south of Port Harcourt, between the Bonny and Brass terminals, to a linear spread of incidents along the eastern fringe of the Nigerian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)”. It added: “With this confluence of factors and the significant geographic limitation imposed on Nigerian security forces, pirates operating with both capability and intent are afforded the opportunity to act freely without significant risk of being interdicted.” While only two incidents were recorded in each of 2017 and 2018, this was the seventh maritime security incident occurring beyond the eastern fringe of the Nigerian EEZ during 2019. Five of the seven incidents have been within 20 nautical miles of the eastern fringe of the Nigerian EEZ. Four incidents involved kidnappings, there was one hijacking and two of the attacks failed. Among the attacks, pirates killed one and kidnapped four in an attack off Gabon, while Nigerian authorities said they had rescued three foreign crew after another attack off their waters. Dryad reported that Nigerian-flagged hopper dredger Ambika had been boarded by pirates after a firefight that resulted in multiple losses of life. A firefight broke out between the security team on the Ambika and the pirates. Four military armed guards were killed and two were injured, Dryad reported. Three foreign crew members, including two Russian nationals and one Indian, were abducted. Elsewhere, a Gabonese captain was killed and four Chinese sailors abducted on 21 December near Libreville, the capital of Gabon, west Africa. Fast boats attacked four ships, including two of Sino-Gabonese company Sigapêche (the Guoji 866 and Guoji 867), the landing craft Tropic Dawn and bulk carrier African Kalmia. Gabonese national Aymar Mboumba Mbina, who was captain of the Tropic Dawn, was reported killed, while two Chinese employees of Sigapêche were kidnapped. Dryad Global reported that the two fishing trawlers Guoji 867 and Guoji 838 were at anchor when they were boarded by a small craft with six or seven persons on board. It was reported that the captain and chief mate were kidnapped from both trawlers. This was the second attack on the same day, with three vessels (Shail Al Doha, African Kalmia and Renauld) approached by a canoe with six or seven persons on board, thought to be the same attackers. On sighting the approaching canoes, the alarm was raised and the canoes moved away from the vessels. This was the first incident within the Owendo Anchorage and Port Libreville area during 2019. Elsewhere, eight people were abducted and one person was injured during an overnight armed raid on chemical/oil products tanker Happy Lady while she was anchored off Cameroon at the end of December. Five Greeks, two people from the Philippines and a Ukrainian were kidnapped, and a Greek national was injured, out of a total crew of 28. Also, contact has been established with pirates who kidnapped 20 Indian seafarers from products tanker the Duke off Benin on 15 December. The six pirates, who boarded the tanker about 115 nautical miles southeast of Lomé, kidnapped six sailors from Goa and 16 other Indian seafarers. One Nigerian cadet was left on board. Meanwhile, crew on the Turkish Suezmax crude oil tanker Istanbul successfully defeated an attempted pirate attack on 24 December, some 180 nautical miles southwest of Brass, Nigeria, in the Gulf of Guinea. In addition, seven crew members of the offshore tug/supply vessel Pacific Warden who were abducted off Equatorial Guinea on 20 November 2019, were released on 21 December last year. The vessel was supporting offshore field operations in Equatorial Guinea at the time. There were 15 crew members on board. Eight were safely ashore and unharmed, but seven crew members were taken by the attackers. Lastly, all 18 Indian nationals and one Turkish national, who were kidnapped from supertanker Nave Constellation on 3 December in the Gulf of Guinea, were freed on 21 December. The crew were kidnapped while en route from Bonny Offshore Terminal to India. The position of the hijacking was about 25 nautical miles away from the floating production storage and offloading unit for Total's Egina offshore oil field. “This is further confirmation of a developing trend of incidents that are assessed to be perpetuated by a well-resourced pirate action group, most likely operating from one or more mothership vessels”, said Dryad Global.

Series of pirate attacks worries African marine sector

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