Pirates have reportedly kidnapped four crew members from the Liberian-flagged container ship ‘Contship Oak’ in the Gulf of Guinea in the evening hours of March 30th.
The vessel was attacked in Douala Anchorage, approximately at 21:40, some 15 nautical miles Southwest of Douala, Cameroon. Pirates took four crew before escaping. Further details are yet to be revealed.
The 1,100 TEU ship is owned by the Greek shipping company Contship.
In its annual piracy report for 2018, ICC’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) confirmed a rise in piracy figures on the world’s seas last year, and specially in West African waters, noting that Gulf of Guinea becomes ‘increasingly dangerous for seafarers’.
The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre namely recorded a total of 201 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships worldwide in 2018, up from 180 in 2017.
In the last three months of 2018, 41 kidnappings were recorded in waters off Nigeria alone.
