Japan is considering the possibility of sending 270 seamen to the Middle East to protect vessels supplying Japan, in line with a law that allows military deployments for research and intelligence gathering, Reuters reported citing information from Nikkei.
On Wednesday, December 4, India gifted the indigenously made patrol vessel CGS Kaamiyaabu to the Maldives National Defense Coast Guard, in order to enhance maritime security in the the Indian Ocean archipelago. It is said that the vessel will be manned by eight Maldives personnel which will be trained in India other than establishing maritime security in the region, it aims to foster its blue economy and safeguard its tourism industry. The initiatives were formally announced during the past year and were launched through a video conference, earlier this week.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) blacklisted additional six vessels linked to Venezuelan PdVSA, with the latter having already been sanctioned. All vessels stated above, departed Venezuela for Cuba in the fall to deliver oil for the sanctioned Cuban trading firm Cubametales.
According to reports, pirates boarded the Nave Constellation tanker vessel and kidnapped 19 of the vessel’s crewmembers, while the vessel was sailing around 100 nautical miles off Bonny Island, Nigeria on December 3, 2019.
In its weekly report, 26 November – 2 December, ReCAAP ISC discusses three incidents which took place in Asia. Two of the three were CAT 3 incidents, and occurred when the ships were underway in the eastbound lane of the Singapore Strait; The remaining one was a CAT 4, while the vessel was anchored in Batangas, Philippines.
In the wake of the recent security issues in the Gulf of Guinea, the Swedish Club presented a case study of a piracy attack onboard a laden product tanker while awaiting 20 miles outside a West African port in late night. In this case, pirates used a ladder to board the vessel from a small boat not detected on the radar.
The Union of Greek shipowners, through the Greek Shipowners’ Social Welfare Company Syn-Enosis, provided to the Hellenic Coast Guard 10 high speed patrol vessels, fully equipped to boost the coast guard’s operations.
The Secretary General of InterManager, Captain Kuba Szymanski, is calling everyone to sign a petition concerning the release of Captain Andrzej Lasota, who was arrested by Mexican authorities on Monday, August 5. Captain Andrzej Lasota was arrested for allegedly being unaware of the ship carrying prohibited substances to Mexico, placing the lives and health of the country’s citizens at risk.
Since ReCAAP ISC issued an Incident Alert regarding security incidents involving ships in the eastbound lane of Singapore Strait on 23 October, another four incidents were reported in the region, the ReCAAP ISC said in a new warning.
Spanish Maritime Authorities refloated a sunken “narco-sub” smuggling vessel and detained 3.5 tonnes of cocaine from its interior, marking the first ever narco-sub to be caught in the EU, as this type of vessel is mostly common in the US.
