In its weekly report for 22-28 December, ReCAAP ISC said it did not receive any reports of armed robbery against ships in Asia, but informed of one attempted incident to an LNG tanker while underway off the Gulf of Guinea.
The incident involved the Singaporean LNG tanker ‘BW Pavilion Leeara’, while in Gulf of Guinea, in the morning of 22 December and is the latest in a series of such incidents in the area.
While underway, the master of the tanker reported the sighting of a suspicious craft approaching the ship’s port quarter. He immediately increased the speed of the ship and altered course.
The suspicious craft followed by changing its course, increased speed and continued to pursue the ship.
The general alarm was raised and all crew mustered to the citadel except the master, duty officer and watchmen.
Then, the master continued to increase speed, altered course and alerted his company and the Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade – Gulf of Guinea (MDATGOG).
The suspicious craft stopped its pursuit after 45 minutes. The crew was not injured, and ship not damaged.
A day earlier, the Maltese-flagged container ship PORT GDYNIA was approached and boarded by an unknown number of attackers in the Gulf of Guinea. This report came in addition to another unauthorized boarding to the container ship Maersk Cadiz while underway off West Africa, in the previous week.
Data by maritime security firm Dryad Global indicates that the wider JWC-025 GoG HRA is critical, which means that attacks are highly likely, expected daily.
