We cover piracy, armed robbery at sea, IUU fishing, maritime cyber security and maritime security issues.
The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye has charged the Ghana Navy to step up security along Ghana’s coast.
He said Ghana’s oil sites are sea-based, hence exposes the country to various criminal threats. The Speaker cited issues that are associated with the increase in crime on the shores of oil-rich countries.
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Source: ghanaweb.com
A group of 10 Turkish sailors has been kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, reportedly for ransom.
The Paksoy-1 was sailing from Cameroon to Ivory Coast when the pirates boarded the ship in the Gulf of Guinea.
It was not carrying freight and eight sailors managed to escape. Turkey says it is working to secure the release of those seized.
The International Maritime Bureau says the Gulf of Guinea is the most dangerous sea in the world for piracy.
Ömer Çelik, spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AK Party, said the ministry was following the case closely and “working on it”.
Numan Paksoy, operations manager at Kadıoğlu Maritime, said about “12 pirates with heavy guns” had attacked the boat.
Crew members hid in a safe room – the citadel – when the pirates boarded the ship, but emerged after “the assailants threatened to burn the ship and kill all of them”, he told the BBC in an emailed statement.
The attackers then picked 10 sailors and let the other eight go, he added.
73% of all sea kidnappings and 92% of hostage-takings occur in the Gulf of Guinea off Nigeria, Guinea, Togo, Benin and Cameroon, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).
Recently, the organisation has noted “a welcome and marked decrease” in attacks in the region due to an increase in Nigerian Navy patrols.
Twenty-one incidents have been recorded around Nigeria so far this year, compared to 31 in the same period of 2018.
Source: bbc.co.uk
Underway Turkish-flagged general cargo ship attacked by five to seven armed men in two skiffs at 2250 UTC in position 02:58N – 004:40E, approx 117nm SW of Brass, Nigeria. Crew attempted to hide as pirates boarded but were threatened when some were caught. Pirates damaged communication and navigation equipment, abducted 10 Turkish national crew before escaping. Eight remaining unharmed crew able to sail vessel to Tema harbour, Ghana. Ghana navy escorted vessel into port. Reported (MDAT/Reuters) 13 Jul. Via OCEANUSLive.org
Fishing vessel attacked and boarded eight armed men in a speedboat at 2100 UTC in position 04:12N – 008:53E approx 6nm West of Idenao, Cameroon. Four crew reported abducted as the perpetrators escaped. Reported (MDAT/Source) 8 Jul. Via OCEANUSLive.org
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) — An armed militia man was killed while four civilians were wounded in an encounter Sunday in Basilan with unidentified men believed to be Abu Sayyaf group members, the military said.
The Western Mindanao Command reported that at around 8 a.m., a barangay peacekeeping action team outpost at Sitio Bohe Pahut, Barangay Central Sumisip was harassed by reported Abu Sayyaf members under sub-group leader Pasil Bayali.
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Source: cnnphilippines.com
INEMESIT UDODIONG
West Africa is turning into the world’s piracy hotspot according to One Earth Future, which produces an annual State of Maritime Piracy report.
The newly released 2018 statistics show a decline in the number of incidents of hijacking, kidnapping and robberies in East Africa. West Africa, on the other hand, recorded an alarmingly increase in pirate attacks from 54 incidents in 2015 to 112 in 2018.
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Source: pulse.ng
The recent admission by the former Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, that the security situation in the maritime sector has become bad and last Monday’s Q2 report by the International Maritime Bureau naming Nigeria as a hotbed of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, leaves much to be desired.
As stakeholders in the nation’s maritime industry await the deployment of the $195 million maritime security equipments approved by President Muhammadu Buhari, a not very cheery news broke last Monday about the increasing pirates attacks on Nigeria’s territorial waters. Put simply, Nigeria was again rated number one in pirates attack in the Gulf of Guinea by the International Maritime bureau (IMB).
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Source: hellenicshippingnews.com
Shipping associations issue advice after a series of attacks blamed on Iran
Shipping companies sailing through the Arabian Gulf are being urged to avoid having private armed security guards on board as the risk of escalation in the region rises.
Relations between Iran and the West have become increasingly strained after Britain seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar last week and London said its warship HMS Montrose had to fend off Iranian vessels seeking to block a British-owned tanker from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
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Source: thenational.ae
Seafarers’ charity Stella Maris (Apostleship of the Sea) has expressed concern over the effect that piracy continues to have on seafarers’ physical and mental wellbeing, ahead of Sea Sunday on July 14.
The charity has emphasised that seafarers’ safety and pastoral support remains paramount when their ships are targeted or attacked by pirates.
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Source: hellenicshippingnews.com
By Emmanuel Addeh
Yenagoa — Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has said security remains a major challenge occasioned by continuing crude oil theft and vandalism of oil and gas facilities in parts of the Niger Delta.
SPDC’s General Manager, External Relations, Igo Weli, who spoke in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at the media launch of the 2019 edition of the Shell in Nigeria Briefing Notes, an annual publication detailing the activities of the business interests of the global energy giant, noted that the illegal activities result in the loss of 11,000 Barrels Per Day of crude oil.
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Source: allafrica.com
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