Kidnap and Ransom – West African Threat
The Skuld P&I Club issues information bulletin regarding Gulf of Guinea which defined as a High Risk Area due to West African Threat as follows:
We would like to draw your attention toa recent article from Tradewinds about piracy in West Africa (published 3 May 2012).
Currently this is a different threatfrom that which exists in the Indian Ocean as the pirates do not have a “safe haven” to take the vessel to and from which to issue ransom demands.
Therefore we have amended the wording to cover to include illegal detention. Because the losses are happening a long way offshore the definition of the insured area is wider than just calls to ports.
Already we have seen instances of crew being removed from vessels and the concern is that these could be ransomed. This would be an insured event under the wording that we offer.
With these events taking time to resolve the Charterers may wish to consider buying LOH for calls to this area.
Due to the increased risk in this area please also find attached a set of guidelines recently issued by the maritime security consultants, BGN
Please do not hesitate to call your respective syndicate if you have any questions.
Source: The Skuld P&I Club
