Kenya takes over as head of CGPCS

EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation ATALANTA's ESPS Canarias towed the vessel belonging to Somali Navy personnel back to the Somali shore.

CGPCS: ceremony handing over the presidency between Mauritius and Kenya, this Thursday, February 27

The handover ceremony for the presidency of the Contact Group on Piracy off the coast of Somalia (GCPCS) will be held at the Sofitel Hotel, Flic en Flac, this Thursday, February 27 at 9:30 a.m. Organized on the initiative of the Republic of Mauritius, in conjunction with the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), this ceremony will mark the end of two years of presidency by Mauritius in this international platform focused on the fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia.

At the end of this event, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritius, Nanda Bodha, will pass the torch to Kenya which will be represented by its Minister of Defence, Monica Juma.

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Source: inside.news

Weekly report details growing number of shipping companies targeted by malware attacks

Sam Chambers

Cyber consultants Red Sky Alliance with maritime security specialists Dryad Global have started publishing a weekly list of names of ships appearing in malicious emails with hackers increasingly targeting this niche with malware or phishing links.

The weekly reports come at a time where maritime organisations are coming under increasingly sophisticated attacks with the charity, International Seafarers’ Welfare & Assistance Network, becoming the latest organisation to suffer at the hands of hackers, reporting today emails are being sent out with subject lines asking for your opinion on seafarers’ welfare and a malware link contained in the email.

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Source: splash247.com

PIRATE ATTACKS: World shipping groups threaten to report Nigeria to UN

By Godwin Oritse

TWO International shipping groups, Baltic and International Maritime Council, BIMCO, and International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, Inter-Tanko, have threatened to report Nigeria to the United Nations, UN, and the United States of America, USA, if cogent actions are not taken to stem the recent spike in pirate attacks against their vessels and personnel.

The follow-up measure from the groups, Vanguard Maritime Report gathered, would be a deployment of international war ships to Nigerian territorial waters to secure their vessels and personnel if the situation remains the same three months afterwards.

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Source: vanguardngr.com

Captain murdered on oil tanker off Venezuela: port authority

CARACAS (Reuters) – Armed assailants murdered the captain of an oil tanker after boarding his ship while it was anchored off the coast of eastern Venezuela, according to a local union leader and a report from a Venezuelan port authority.

Six armed individuals boarded the San Ramon tanker early Monday morning in Pozuelos Bay and shot the captain, Colombian national Jaime Herrera Orozco, a report from the Puerto La Cruz port authority seen by Reuters said.

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Source: reuters.com

How Navy Arrested 33 Suspected Oil Thieves, Three Vessels in Delta

By Sylvester Idowu in Warri

Vigilant operatives of the Nigeria Navy Ship (NNS Delta), Warri, within three weeks, have arrested 33 suspected oil thieves in different operations around Escravos offshore in Warri South-west Local Government area of Delta Sate.

The operations, which was carried out between January 15 and February 12 this year, also led to the arrest of three sea going vessels namely MT Nely, MT Madam Esther and MT De-Praise as well as a wooden boat and a barge.

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Source: thisdaylive.com

SA Navy Op Copper deployments valuable for commerce and security

Defence analyst Helmoed Heitman is a firm believer in the dictum “you cannot control what you can’t patrol” and to this end maintains SA Navy deployments to the Mozambique Channel should continue.

His observation comes at a time when the maritime service of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) is preparing a platform for a stint in the waterway which carries much of South Africa’s seaborne goods and services.

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Source: defenceweb.co.za

Shots fired at boxship off Nigeria

Sam Chambers

Shots were fired at a boxship departing West Africa on Friday in the latest violent attack to hit merchant shipping in the piracy prone area.

Security consultants Ambrey report that within 26 hours of the kidnapping of nine crewmembers from the panamax tanker Alpine Penelope, the panamax container ship Irenes Resolve came under attack 119 nautical miles offshore Nigeria.

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Source: splash247.com

Nigeria: FG moves to enforce Anti-Piracy Law as stiff penalty awaits offenders

The Federal Government has embarked on measures to ensure a smooth enforcement of the newly enacted anti piracy law as part of efforts to stem criminality on Nigerian waters. This was revealed in Lagos at the annual Strategic Admiralty Law Seminar for Judges put together by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). The theme of the conference was, “Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act, 2019: Key to Accelerating and Achieving Safe and Secure Shipping in Nigeria.” it was meant to sensitise judicial sector actors on the import of the antipiracy law.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Directors-General of NIMASA and NIALS, Dr. Dakuku Peterside and Professor Mohammed Tawfiq Ladan, respectively, emphasised the need for unencumbered implementation of the law. They called for cooperation among the enforcement agencies, stressing that stringent penalties await maritime criminals in the country.

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Source: worldstagegroup.com

Pirates attack tanker off Benin, kidnap crew

On Feb. 20th, MDAT-GoG, the agency monitoring maritime crime in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, reported an attack on a vessel in position 05°08’31’’N – 002°06’14.4’’E.

Although the agency has not updated their report since then, media outlets and independent sources now say that at least nine crew (possibly 10, there is some confusion about the actual number) were taken hostage after at least two armed pirates boarded the ship, named as the MT Alpine Penelope.

The incident reportedly occurred some 76nm off Cotonou and the location suggests that pirate groups in the region are moving away from areas where naval patrols have been stepped up in recent weeks, such as off the Niger Delta.

Yesterday’s attack is another example of the changing economies of piracy. Until 2018, pirate groups in the region took advantage of the oil market by hijacking tankers and stealing crude for re-sale either domestically or elsewhere in the Gulf of Guinea. However, as oil prices fell, criminal gangs in West Africa reaslised that stolen crude and related products no longer offered a good return on investment and turned to kidnap instead. Media reports suggest a number of the kidnapped crew are Georgian nationals.

NIMASA, NIALS decry crimes on Nigerian waterways

By Sulaimon Salau

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), have decried the high rate of piracy, armed robbery, and other maritime crimes on the nation’s waterways.

The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside, said with the world’s waters accounting over 80 per cent of transportation requirements in the global trading supply chain network across established international routes and trade lanes, the threats of piracy, armed robbery at sea and other maritime crimes remain a global concern.

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Source: guardian.ng