The hijacking of a small Iranian fishing vessel off Somalia, was the latest incident in a series of hijackings in the so-called High Risk Area (HRA) off Somalia. Although the region had seen piracy incidents decreasing, in recent times they have been revived.
The bulk carrier ‘Thunderbird’s’ crew saw four perpetrators armed with knives/machetes near the engine room, off Malaysia. The alarm was raised and the crew gathered, while a security search was conducted. A crew’s mobile phone was reported stolen, but the crew was not injured.
The ship was heading to Port Harcourt from Lagos when it was attacked, with the pirates being in control of the ship for about an hour. According to sources, among the crewmembers kidnapped are the master of ‘Skylight’ and senior officers. The crew members that remained on the vessel managed to guide the ship to Port Harcourt.
In the latest paper by Oceans Beyond Piracy, OBP addresses the issue of Vessel Protection Detachments, as some flag states began authorizing and deploying uniformed military personnel to embark on commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
The video, published by CdM Portal, illustrates an attempted piracy attack against a a container ship on December 7. The pirates tried to get onboard the ship, but failed as the vessel performed evasive maneuvers, thus preventing the attack.
Prevention of piracy, armed robbery against ships and illicit maritime activity in west and central Africa was on the agenda at a meeting of the G7 Group of Friends of the Gulf of Guinea in Lagos, Nigeria, on 11-12 December.
Participants at the 2017 Capacity Building Workshop, being held in New Delhi under the theme “Striding Over Domestic Challenges”, will pool case studies drawn from recent incidents from their respective countries, discuss challenges, and share best practices to deal with the evolving patterns of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia.
In the Gulf Guinea, the nations are using Privately Contracted Armed Security, a model of embarked maritime security, which involves the contracting of uniformed police or military personnel from coastal or port states onto a vessel in the anchorage, port, or territorial waters of that state.
Oceans Beyond Piracy is releasing a series of issue papers to further classify and define each identified model of contracted maritime security. In its latest issue paper it explores the model of State Affiliated Escorts.
Office of Naval Intelligence published its weekly reports, outlining the piracy incidents occurred at the Horn of Africa, Gulf of Guinea and SouthEast Asia, as well as piracy incidents that occurred worldwide.
