We cover piracy, armed robbery at sea, IUU fishing, maritime cyber security and maritime security issues.
The French Government has commended Kenya for establishing a Coast Guard Unit to police its vast Coastal maritime waters.
President Uhuru Kenyatta late last year unveiled the Kenya Coast Guard Service (KCGS) and launched into service its first offshore patrol boat christened Doria in Mombasa.
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Some of shipping’s top stakeholders met on Friday at the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to demand action to counter the dire piracy situation off the Gulf of Guinea, which is causing severe distress for seafarers who have to transit the region.
The event, co-sponsored by BIMCO, IMCA, ICS, ITF and OCIMF, drew members of the shipping community, flag states and agencies from the Gulf of Guinea.
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by Carson Jnr
For the past few weeks, Kenya’s diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Somalia has steadily been getting worse, thanks to the ongoing maritime row pitting oil wells along the Indian Ocean.
Amid the row, it is apparent that Kenya could be staring at fresh security threats from terrorist groups as Al-Shabaab, and to some extent, the ISIS who might be watching from a distance, hoping that Kenya gets into a war with Somalia.
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Source: hivisasa.com
Anna Okon
Following the increasing rate of piracy and hijacking of the crew for ransom in Nigerian waters, especially in the Gulf of Guinea, Indian Directorate General of Shipping in Mumbai, has issued a restriction on all seafarers who are Indian nationals, banning them from working in vessels in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea.
In a circular sent to all shipping owners, shipping companies and other practitioners which was signed by the Director-General of Shipping in India, Capt Anish Joseph, the state reportedly observed that there was an increasing trend in the number of incidents taking place inside the various coastal states jurisdiction in the GoG.
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Source: punchng.com
By ELISHA BALA-GBOGBO
ABUJA (Bloomberg) — Just as Nigeria gets to grips with militants who brought the nation’s oil industry to its knees a few years ago, another group of longstanding foes are slowly making a comeback: thieves.
Saboteurs including thieves caused an 80% increase in the number of spills in 2018, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the largest international producer in the West African country, said in a report last month. By contrast, there have been no militant-related halts to operations since 2016.
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By Teofilo Garcia, Jr
ZAMBOANGA CITY — Government troops recovered an arms cache belonging to Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits in an island off Sulu province, a top military official said Wednesday.
Major Gen. Divino Rey Pabayo, Joint Task Force Sulu commander, said the arms cache was discovered in Minis Island, Patikul, Sulu at about 7:45 a.m. Monday.
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The decision by the Federal Government to delay the implementation of the community engagement standards in Niger-Delta may have resulted in the spate of unwholesome activities in the region, an energy expert, Meka Olowola, has said.
He said the activities include pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft and other untoward practices in the region, adding that the development has slowed down oil production in Nigeria.
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Switzerland has asked an international court to order Nigeria to release a Swiss-flagged oil tanker, its cargo and crew that have been detained off Port Harcourt for the past 16 months.
The Swiss foreign ministry said in a statement weekend that it had appealed on May 21 to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to order Nigeria to release the San Padre Pio tanker.
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Source: orientdailynews.com.ng
The geographic mandate of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) might be broadened to combat piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, Russia‘s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said during UN Security Council consultations on the situation in the Central African region.
“Our country has had a positive experience in international efforts to fight piracy in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean as part of the Contact Group on this fight off the coast of Somalia. We hope that this experience might be useful for resolving similar issues in the Gulf of Guinea, including in the context of possibly broadening the geographic mandate of the Contact Group to include the Gulf of Guinea,” Polyanskiy said on Tuesday.
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Source: urdupoint.com
Okafor Ofiebor
Port Harcourt – Suspected sea pirates on Monday attacked seafarers travelling on Port Harcourt-Bille waterways in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State, injuring scores of passengers and robbing them of money, goods worth millions of naira, including the hijacking of their Commercial boats.
A Bille Community leader, Adokiye Bibi, who confirmed the latest pirates’ attack also stated that between Saturday, June 1 to Tuesday June 4, over seven commercial boats have been attacked by sea pirates and hijacked from their owners.
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Source: pmnewsnigeria.com
Maritime Security News: The Nigerian authorities regularly complain that incidents of armed robbery on Delta waterways are wrongly described as incidents of piracy. Looks like the message hasn’t filtered through to the media…
Maritime Security News 