A week after the abduction of six crew members from the container ship MSC Mandy off Benin, BIMCO stressed that piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is an unacceptable burden to seafarers and shipping companies and asked, on behalf of its members, that maritime powers increase their presence and expand their collaboration with local states to curb piracy.
Around 40 ships have been attacked in the Gulf of Guinea in the past 12 months, while the area is a key area of concern for crew abductions. On the most recent of cases, on 2 January, pirates attacked the MSC Mandy while transiting Gulf of Guinea on its way to Nigeria, and kidnapped six crewmen.
We look towards the EU, China and the US to join forces and deploy naval capacity in the Gulf of Guinea to end this constant threat to seafarers,
…noted Jakob P. Larsen, BIMCO Head of Maritime Security.
Under the 2013 Yaoundé Code of Conduct, inspired by the UN Security Council Resolution 2018 (2011) and 2039 (2012), states in the Gulf of Guinea recognized that piracy constituted an issue and initiated several initiatives to strengthen maritime security.
More specifically, several capacity building initiatives have been started in the region since the Yaoundé Code of Conduct was agreed, but the actual security situation in the Gulf of Guinea is still not good.
BIMCO remains very thankful to the regional navies who are working tirelessly and with great sacrifice to secure their seas. While these efforts command our deepest respect, pirates in the Gulf of Guinea can still operate largely unchecked in the open seas, outside of the territorial waters, and on occasion even strike inside territorial waters.
According to Mr. Larsen, one of the reasons is that other security challenges in the region, such as land-based terrorist threats, generate a high demand for law enforcement resources. In addition to the strain put on seafarers, the current situation negatively impacts the economic potential of the sea of the countries in the region.
It is time to step up law enforcement efforts, establish control of the sea in the Gulf of Guinea, relieve seafarers from the threat and the psychological pressure, and allow the countries in the region to harvest the full economic potential of the seas,
…Mr. Larsen notes.
International sea and air law enforcement assets, such as naval ships with helicopters, will be able to deliver a concrete and rapid contribution to the maritime security situation. If such assets were supported by onboard regional law enforcement officials in charge of the law enforcement element, operations could be conducted without infringing on the regional states’ sovereignty.
While longer term capacity building efforts are commended, what is needed now is substantially more assets at sea and in the air. It is an obvious solution which can deliver the necessary effect with the desired speed, without compromising the territorial integrity of the countries in the region,
…Larsen says.
