The UK Hydrographic Office has presented Security of Navigation, Stabilisation Advice and Training to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Seychelles. The training is designed to improve maritime security and safety of navigation in the Indian Ocean by helping Seychelles share crucial maritime safety information with ships and partners in the region.
Two speed boats with 16 armed persons onboard chased and fired upon an offshore supply vessel, while the vessel was sailing around 30 nautical miles southwest of Bonny Island, Nigeria. Crew raised the alarm, while the vessel increased speed and commenced evasive manoeuvres.
While speaking at the last SAFETY4SEA Conference in Cyprus, Mr. Dimitris Maniatis, Chief Commercial Officer, Diaplous Maritime Services, provided a recap of the current maritime security status, focusing on key high risk areas, such as the Indian Ocean region and West African waters. For the Gulf of Guinea, he stressed, Piracy and Maritime Aggression is never ending.
Pirates armed with machine guns in two speed boats approached an offshore support vessel underway on March 9, off Brass, Nigeria, as IMB reports. The pirates boarded the ship, stole crew’s belongings and kidnapped five men. What is more, there are reports that one Nigerian Navy armed guard was killed during exchange of fire.
During 5 to 11 March 2019, an incident of armed robbery against ship was reported to ReCAAP ISC. The incident took place on 5 February 2019 and was reported to ReCAAP ISC by Focal Point Singapore after verification with the relevant agencies. The incident occurred about 1.3 nm southwest of the Western Boarding Ground Alpha, Singapore.
The Round Table of international shipping associations plus the OCIMF representing the global shipping and oil industry have announced that the geographic boundaries of the ‘High Risk Area’ for piracy in the Indian Ocean have been reduced. The regional UKHO Maritime Security Chart, Q6099 will be updated by Notice to Mariners and a new version will be produced to reflect these changes which will take effect from 1 May 2019.
ReCAAP ISC published its weekly report concerning two piracy incidents that took place between 27 of February to 4 March in Straits of Malacca, Singapore and in the Gulf of Guinea. In both incidents the crew was not reported to be injured.
Pirates off Africa’s western coast attacked a Malta-registered tanker and kidnapped three of its crew members, as reported by Romania’s Free Trade Union of Navigators and the Romanian Ministy of Foreign Affairs. The tanker ‘Histria Ivory’ run by Romanian crew members was under attack on February 3, when voyaging through the Gulf of Guinea.
Stable Seas published a report focused on piracy attacks daunting around the Sulu and Celebes Seas. The report adopts an overall approach to get an insight on linkages between maritime governance themes and maritime security challenges in the Sulu and Celebes Seas.
Οn July 5 2011, a small boat with seven armed in the Gulf of Aden drew alongside the ‘Brillante Virtuoso’, a tanker with 140,000 tonnes of fuel oil. A few hours after the pirates boarded the ship, a fire took place, while the armed men went away and the crew abandoned ship. However, the owners of the ship and the insurers have different stories of what it may have happened, and the London high court will have to decide on the case.
