Located in the far north of country, the Port of Pemba has recently assured stakeholders that it has undertaken all the necessary security measures in order to protect its facilities as has been granted the International Ships and Ports Security (ISPS) Code by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Namely, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code aims to structure the threat assessment and set appropriate security measures for vessels and port terminals to deal with piracy threats; unauthorised access and physical attacks on its facilities.
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Pemba which is the main port for the Cabo Delgado province, is rapidly becoming Mozambique’s offshore oil and gas exploration hub. Whatsoever, there has also been various of brutal attacks in the area, believed to have to do partly with the gas projects.
It has not been long since Anadarko, the US Oil and Gas company announced that its contractors working on the Mozambique LNG projects were attacked in two separate incidents. One person was killed, six were injured. The attacks took place on the road from Mocimboa da Praia to Afungi at approximately 5 p.m. local time on February 21, earlier in 2019.
The first attack involved a convoy where six contract personnel sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were either treated or are receiving treatment and the second attack resulted to one fatality.
Piracy on crew and their safety is still a cause for concern and transiting West African waters remains particularly difficult, according to Gard Club. Namely, in the first half of 2019, 73% of all kidnappings at sea, and 92% of hostage-takings happened in the Gulf of Guinea.
While reports from previous years have shown that most attacks have taken place outside Cameroon waters, the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre has recorded three cases of piracy at Douala anchorage until now in 2019, all involving abduction of crew members.
Notably, Cameroon has previously decided to supply armed guards, free of charge, that will stay on board a vessel for the duration of its stay at the anchorage in order to protect ships from piracy attacks at Douala anchorage.
