Tag: Nigeria

One man missing A Nigerian Navy vessel, NNS Thunder, collided with a vessel owned by Total at approximately 15:00hrs yesterday, Tuesday. the incident happened approximately 5 miles up river from Bonny.The Total vessel capsized.One man - a member of the Navy - is reported missing in this incident.Another vessel belonging to Bourbon was first on the scene and secured the Total vessel to its side.Search aircraft and other support vessels were immediately dispatched.The search was ongoing until 22:00hrs last night and resumed at first light this morning.Sources close to the emergency response teams are reporting that the Navy appear to have been at fault and were responsible for the impact which left the Total vessel on its side.Divers cut a hole in the hull freeing one crew member trapped onboard.The stricken vessel is a small patrol craft owned by Total but crewed and operated by a well company which operates many supply boats and other craft in the region (Company name withheld).Oyibos OnLine sources state that it is normal to have Navy personnel carried on board these boats but no information confirming their presence on this vessel has yet been received.Source: Oyibos Online

Operation of the container terminal at the new Tolaram Port@Lekki, Nigeria International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI), the Manila-based terminal operator, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise (LPLE) for the operation of the container terminal at the new Tolaram Port@Lekki, Nigeria.In a statement, ICTSI said that it had been selected as the preferred operator for a sub-concession to equip and operate the container terminal on an exclusive basis for a 20-year period, following a Request for Proposal process."ICTSI is excited at having been nominated the preferred bidder for this prestigious project that will further enhance Nigeria's position on the regional and global maritime map," said ICTSI Chairman, Enrique K. Razon Jr.Tolaram Port@Lekki, a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Tolaram Group, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Lagos State Government (LASG), will, upon completion in 2016, become the largest port of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa."The port project will be our largest investment to date and reflects our confidence in the Nigerian economy," commented Haresh Aswani, both Tolaram Group's Managing Director in Nigeria and Singapore's Honorary Consul-General to Nigeria."Our belief and studies have shown that this infrastructure investment will result in significant multiplier benefits ...

MAN Admits 450 Cadets, Nigeria's only government-owned maritime academy, the Maritime Academy of Nigeria of Nigeria (MAN) Oron, Akwa Ibom State has released its 2012 admission list. It has also started using the newly installed stimulator in the training of cadets in the academy.Details of the prospective candidates, made available to THISDAY, indicated that a total of 450 cadets are expected to arrive at the Oron institution on April 15, to start registration the following day. Lectures are expected to commence on April 17."Upon their arrival, all new cadets are expected to report to the Regimental Unit Commander (RUC) for registration formalities, accommodation and other instructions", the statement added.It also warned that any new cadet who "fails to report after the expiration of one month from the date of resumption would be considered as having forfeited his/her admission."A breakdown of the admission list shows that Maritime Transport and Business Studies have the highest number of cadets. It has total number of 154 cadets while Nautical Sciences has 78. Others are Marine Engineering 136, Electrical and Electronics Engineering 46 and Boat/Ship Building Technology 36.Similarly, out of the 78 students that were admitted for Nautical Sciences, 15 are from the host state, ...

Due to recent pirate attacks on vessels in the Nigerian maritime industry The United States Department of Homeland, has threatened to put Nigeria on the list of unsecured ports in the world, following the incessant pirate attacks on vessels in the Nigerian maritime industry.In a report addressed to Chairman of the Presidential Implementation Committee on Maritime Security, PICOMMS, the USA Coastguard expressed fear over the security lapses in the nation's port and wondered what the government of Nigeria was doing to curtail criminal activities in the portsVanguard gathered that the officials of the US Coastguard, are currently in the country to examine the implementation of the International Shipping and Port Facility Security, ISPS, Code.The Coast guard officials, who are currently in the country to carry out International Port Security, IPS, training programme noted that none of the facility visited can boast of adequate security arrangement.Part of the report reads "Nigeria experience a high incidence of armed robbery, stowawys and other maritime crimes of opportunities. Reports from the maritime community indicates the vast majority of the port related incidents stem from facilities and unprotected waterside."The IPS officials are to visit some of the facilities earlier visited to see how much progress ...

MV Madina was hijacked while the vessel was in the process of lifting crude oil from oil field The Ghanaian authorities have arrested an oil tanker- MV Madina allegedly conveying stolen crude oil from Nigeria, the Ghana Navy has said.MV Madina was detained on Thursday at the Salt Pond Offshore Producing Company Limited (SPOCL), as it attempted to discharge hijacked crude oil from Nigeria into another vessel at the SPOCL. The Director of Public Relations of the Ghana Armed Forces, Colonel M'Bawine Atintande told journalists that guards have been deplored to secure the vessels at the oil fields.The force image maker disclosed that the arrested ship would be entrusted to the ports authorities and the perpetrators shall face the wrath of the law.MV Madina was hijacked while the vessel was in the process of lifting crude oil from a marginal oil producing field in Nigeria into a larger vessel, MV North Wind Grace. The captain and his crew absconded with the vessel.Consequently, the owners of the vessel alerted the Benin and Ghana security and subsequently traced the ship to Ghana.The Chief Executive Officer of Salt Pond Offshore Producing Company limited (SPOCL), Mr. Quincy Sintim Aboagye confirmed the incidence.According to him, ...

The well stopped flowing on its own A natural gas well off the coast of Nigeria stopped flowing by itself after a fire burned out at the site, the Nigerian division of Chevron announced."Chevron Nigeria Ltd. announced that the fire at the site of the Funiwa 1A natural gas well offshore Nigeria ceased burning on Friday," the company stated. "The well stopped flowing on its own."The company said no natural gas had flowed since the fire went out but monitoring was ongoing.More than 150 rig workers were pulled from the K.S. Endeavor rig off the Nigerian coast in January after the rig partially collapsed. Chevron initially said it observed a small sheen from the area, which represented about 13 barrels of liquid.The drilling of a relief well to extinguish the fire began in January. CNL said it hired local residents to monitor areas beaches for possible contamination. It added that it offered food and other supplies to communities "to recognize the help and support that they have given the company."Two rig workers were declared dead following a search-and-rescue operation.The cause of the accident remains under investigation.Source: UPI

In 2011, 58 pirates' attacks on ships took place off Nigeria's coasts On Tuesday, a group of pirates attacked a Dutch cargo ship in the Nigerian port of Harcourt and captured the captain and the chief mechanic, who are Russian citizens. Since then, all attempts to establish communication with the pirates or the captive sailors have failed.The Dutch ship, called "Breeze Clipper", was anchored in the port when a motorboat with 8 armed men suddenly appeared.Russia's Ambassador to Nigeria Alexander Polyakov says:"The crew of the ill-fated ship consisted of 14 people - Russians, Ukrainians and Filipinos. The pirates opened fire, boarded the ship, robbed the crew, captured the captain, whose last name is Pikus and the chief mechanic, whose last name is Melnikov (I don't know their first names), and went off with them. The cook, a Filipino, was wounded, but his life is out of danger. The rest were not injured.""The Russian embassy is already actively cooperating with the Nigerian authorities to try to rescue the sailors. We are constantly keeping in touch with the company which owns the ship. An emergency committee has been formed. We are trying our best, but, unfortunately, still in vain."In terms of the ...

In West Africa ships are not hijacked but only attacked and robbed The violent hijack of a Dutch cargo ship off the Nigerian coast has highlighted the increase in piracy in the area. The captain and chief engineer were kidnapped and one crew member injured in Tuesday's attack.Somalia may have the reputation as the world's centre for maritime piracy, but an umbrella group of insurers have designated the coastal waters of Nigeria and Benin as a danger zone - the same category as Somali waters.Thirty nations have vessels participating in an anti-piracy fleet in and around the coastal waters of Somalia. While this intervention is having some effect with the number of attacks decreasing slightly last year, a similar problem is emerging at the other side of the continent.There is a difference though: in East Africa ships and their crews are only released after the pirates have been paid paying millions of dollars in ransom, while in West Africa ships are not high jacked but attacked and robbed.Lack of authorityCrime at sea is a result of a lack of authority on land. In Somalia there is no functioning state structure and piracy has developed into a highly organised criminal economy. ...

Crew of the Dutch ship that pirates attacked off Nigeria's coast Russian, Ukrainian and Filipino seamen formed part of the crew of the Dutch ship that pirates attacked off Nigeria's coast earlier yesterday.According to an official of the International Maritime Bureau, the freighter ship's crew totalled 14.But he failed to specify what countries the Captain and Engineer-in-Chief, whom the pirates took away with them, were from.The freighter ship was at anchor at Port Harcourt, - Nigeria's major port city, when she came under attack.The pirates threatened to use arms to make the crew to surrender their money, and then went away in a motorboat with the two captivesSource: The Voice of Russia

Second attack in this week after Nigerian pirates robbed another cargo ship and kidnapped crew Pirates have attacked a ship off the coast of Nigeria for the second time in as many days, but the attackers were thwarted in the latest incident by a quick-acting crew, an international maritime watchdog said Thursday.The pirates opened fire Wednesday on a Nigerian-owned oil tanker about 80 nautical miles off Port Harcourt, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.Choong said the ship managed to escape after crew members enforced anti-piracy measures and increased vessel speed.The attack came a day after Nigerian pirates robbed a cargo ship anchored at Port Harcourt and kidnapped at least two crew members."The trend is worrying. It shows that pirate attacks off Nigeria are continuing and getting more violent," he said.This brought to eight attacks this year off the coast of Nigeria alone, and there are believed to be many other cases that have gone unreported, Choong said.Over the last year, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea - which follows Africa's southward curve from Liberia to Gabon - has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts.In August, London-based Lloyd's ...