New maritime cyber-security centre launched

It aims to strengthen security through early detection, monitoring, analysis, response to potential cyber attacks

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has a bulwark against cyber attacks with its new Maritime Cybersecurity Operations Centre, launched officially yesterday.

The centre, which has been operating since last November, aims to strengthen Singapore’s maritime security through early detection, monitoring, analysis and response to potential cyber attacks.

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Source: straitstimes.com

There Is No Piracy In Nigeria, But Armed Robbery – Bello

The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council, Barrister Hassan Bello, says there is no piracy in Nigeria, but what we have are incidences of armed robbery. Bello said the armed robbery incidences and not piracy has been confirmed by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

The Secretary in a statement made available to The Tide queried the rational behind foreign shipping lines slamming ‘war risk surcharges’ on Nigerian bound cargoes,
He said the slamming war risk are deliberate extortion of Nigerian importers and creating a wrong impression about Nigeria’s maritime sector.

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Source: thetidenewsonline.com

Suspected pirates kidnap five oil workers in Rivers

By Victor Azubuike

Indigenous oil firm, Belemaoil has confirmed the kidnap of five oil workers on its platform in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The gunmen suspected to be sea pirates had accosted their victims working on an oil installation on a high sea before whisking them away in a speedboat to an unknown destination.

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Source: dailypost.ng

Tanker attacks near UAE expose weaknesses in Gulf Arab security

By Stephen Kalin, Alexander Cornwell and Dahlia Nehme

RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) – Attacks on Saudi tankers and other vessels off the coast of the United Arab Emirates this week expose vulnerabilities in the security of a key oil-shipping route amid rising tensions between the United States, Iran and Gulf Arab states.

The operation near the Strait of Hormuz appeared designed to test the resolve of the United States and its Sunni Muslim allies without triggering a war, after Washington tightened sanctions on Iran and beefed up its military presence nearby.

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Source: euronews.com

Anti-piracy patrol targets Yemen fishermen

BySAEED AL-BATATI, QUSAYIR, YEMEN

A global anti-piracy task force deployed in the Arabian Sea to protect shipping lanes has engaged in invasive and violent searches and seizures of small Yemeni fishing vessels with apparent impunity, fishermen told Asia Times.

Multiple fishermen from Yemen’s southeastern province of Hadramout say international warships, most recently from the Indian navy, have targeted them in deep water and sometimes even in Yemen’s territorial waters. The perceived harassment has spread panic in fishing communities along the Yemeni coast, compelling many to shorten their voyages and others to abandon the profession entirely – some even taking up arms in the war.

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Source: asiatimes.com

Pirate attacks continue in West Africa

The Gulf of Guinea has recorded its third ship hijacking this month, with a chemical tanker captured off Togo, as the region continues to see a spike in maritime insecurity.

According to the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting centre, armed pirates boarded and hijacked an anchored chemical tanker at Lome Anchorage on 12 May, holding its crew hostage.

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Source: defenceweb.co.za

Police Uncover Plots To Attack Oil Facilities In Niger Delta

By Chibuike Chukwu

Lagos – The Nigeria Police Force said it has uncovered plots by some subversive elements masquerading as climate and environmental activists to commence massive and coordinated attacks on oil installations across the country especially in the Niger-Delta region and adjoining states.

These plots, according to a statement by Frank Mba, the Force image maker, on Wednesday, were politically motivated, and aimed at sabotaging oil installations with intended negative consequences on national security, economic development and global oil market.

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Source: independent.ng

US Coast Guard ship arrives in PH to boost both nations’ maritime security capabilities

By Betheena Kae Unite

An American vessel that will conduct several exercises and improve the maritime security capabilities of the United States Coast Guard and the Philippines’ arrived in Manila Wednesday.

The United States Coast Guard National Security Cutter Bertholf, with its commanding officer Captain John Discroll, arrived at Pier 15 in Manila, following the capability training exercise conducted by both nations’ Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea Tuesday.

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Source: news.mb.com.ph

Maritime crimes squeeze NIMASA’s revenue

by Onyedi Ojiabor

The Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, yesterday blamed high rate of crime for the revenue shortfall the agency recorded in 2018 fiscal year.

He spoke in Abuja during 2019 budget defence session of the agency before the Senate Committee on Marine Transport. Peterside who made the submission in response to a question on why NIMASA’s contributions to the Consolidated Revenue Fund in 2018 reduced by N6billion noted that maritime crimes was largely responsible for the reduction.

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Source: thenationonlineng.net

EU, ECOWAS stake $173m to address maritime insecurity

By Oludare Richards

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU) have committed €155 million (about $173 million) to address issues associated with maritime insecurity and related clandestine networks of dirty money in West Africa.

The ECOWAS Commission targets the insecurity situation in the Gulf of Guinea, which it said had adverse effect on the health and economic indices of ECOWAS member states.

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Source: guardian.ng