Tag: Gulf of Guinea

Practical tips on how to avoid incidents with West African pirates The UK P&I Club issued a practical guidance in relation to piracy in West Africa.Stuart Edmonston, Head of Loss Prevention, says: We have seen a sizable shift in pirate activity, from Somali to West Africa, and are witnessing an increase in incidents particularly offshore Nigeria.The UK Club provides practical tips on how to avoid incidents with West African pirates:The ship should be operating at a heightened state of security throughout, including additional watch-keeping, roving patrols and fire hoses rigged at the railings; outside doors of the accommodation closed and locked from the inside and temporary barriers erected around the outside stairwells risk of attack is particularly high when the ship is at anchor or is drifting off a port e.g. close to pilot station or when carrying out Ship-to-Ship (STS) transfer operations.For the purposes of identifying suitable measures of prevention, mitigation and recovery in case of piracy, it is imperative that a ship and voyage-specific risk assessment is performed well in advance as recommended in Section 3 of the Best Management Practices Volume 4 (BMP4).Limit the use of lighting at night and reduce the power or turn off the ...

The Republic of the Marshall Islands issued a revised Marine Guideline for the RMI vessels operating in the waters off West Africa, particularly the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) to provide information on how to mitigate the risk of piracy and armed robbery in this region.

Shipping industry part and parcel of West Africa security situation

A small coastal tanker is hijacked by pirates in South East Asia every two weeks on average

IMO Legal Committee was updated on the current status of the Secretariat's counter-piracy initiatives

The European Council adopted the annexed Gulf of Guinea Action Plan 2015-2020

ECOWAS Commission inaugurates multinational maritime coordination centre At 13 March, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission inaugurated the multinational maritime coordination centre (MMCC) for a maritime zone known as Pilot Zone E.Taking place in Cotonou, Benin, this marks an important step in the implementation of the ECOWAS Integrated Maritime Strategy (EIMS). It is solid proof of member states' commitment to solving the critical issue of maritime piracy, along with other illicit activities at sea. Pilot Zone E is considered the most dangerous maritime zone in West Africa, and stronger protection efforts are needed in this area, which encompasses Benin, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.Once inaugurated, the centre in Cotonou will coordinate joint activities between the four states. This includes patrols, information sharing, training and drills. In accordance with the guidelines set out in EIMS, the centre is required to report to the Regional Maritime Security Coordination Centre of West Africa. It will also work with the multinational maritime coordination centres of Zones F and G, thereby completing the maritime security architecture at the sub-regional level. Zone F includes Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, while Zone G is made up of Cape Verde, the ...

South-East Asia accounted for three-quarters of global maritime piracy last year

Dryad Maritime issued a special report entitled "Maritime Crime Figures for 2014"

Updated revised West Africa HRA and Voluntary Reporting Area