Following the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement, ten Turkish seafarers onboard the Paksoy 1 freighter were kidnapped by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, on Saturday night, July 13. The ship is now on anchorage at the port Tema, Ghana. The Turkish Foreign Ministry is closely collaborating with authorities in Nigeria and Ghana to safely release the crew.
The US seeks to enlist allies in the next two weeks or so in a military coalition to safeguard strategic waters off Iran and Yemen, where Washington blames Iran and Iran-aligned fighters for attacks, Reuters reports.
ICC published a report on piracy and armed robbery in the timeframe from January 1 to June 30, 2019. Based on the report, the seas circling West Africa are the most dangerous for piracy, as of the 75 seafarers taken hostage onboard or kidnapped for ransom worldwide so far this year, 62 were captured in the Gulf of Guinea – off the coasts of Nigeria, Guinea, Togo, Benin and Cameroon.
CMA CGM reported that its security measures are sufficient to keep operating in the Persian Gulf region, following concerns over a possible dispute between Iran and major global powers, Reuters reports, although the shipping company halted its operations in Iran in 2018 following the US sanctions.
Following China’s announcement of increasing the security level for Chinese-flagged vessels heading through the Strait of Malacca, MPA Singapore issued a statement according to which the port of Singapore will maintain security level 1.
BIMCO’s Head of Maritime Security, Jakob P. Larsen, highlighted that there’s no reason to ‘turn a blind eye to piracy’ in the Gulf of Guinea. He supports the establishment of a contact group to fight piracy in the Gulf and protect the shipping industry.
Dryad has received reporting indicating that China has increased the security level for Chinese-flagged vessels heading through the Strait of Malacca to the highest threat warning available, namely MARSEC Level 3. Sources have showed that China may have increased threat levels because of a specific threat of criminality.
The US Maritime Administration launched a MSCI Advisory informing about Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Indian Ocean violence due to regional conflict and piracy, highlighting that there’s still risks for commercial vessels operating in these areas.
IMO announced that it would like to draw to the attention of the international maritime community that warnings currently being issued from the email account of the Regional Maritime Information Sharing Centre (REMISC) in Sana’a, Yemen (infoex@remisc.org) are not legitimate.
Chirag Bahri, who today is ISWAN’s Regional Director, India and South Asia, was held captive by pirates in Somalian waters from May to December 2010, along with 21 fellow crewmembers of the chemical tanker, Marida Marguerite.
