We cover piracy, armed robbery at sea, IUU fishing, maritime cyber security and maritime security issues.
Sunday Aborisade
The Ocean Marine Solutions Limited, a maritime security company, has threatened legal action if the Nigerian Ports Authority fails to rescind its order suspending its security contract at the Lagos ports.
The NPA suspended the OMSL multi-million dollars contract at the ports based on the directive of the Senate, which has also commenced a probe of its activities.
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Source: punchng.com
COTONOU, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — Benin’s government on Wednesday announced scaled up protection, security and safety measures for hovering vessels in the Cotonou port.
The measures include the “provision of an armed protection squad on board”, according to a government release made public Wednesday night. “The presence of the squad is going to prevent any attempts of piracy and to alert operating centers”, the release also said.
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Source: xinhuanet.com
Ismail Sebugwaawo
Piracy, armed robbery, drug smuggling and human trafficking are some of the major challenges faced in the Indian Ocean waters, according to members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
Speaking at a Press conference on the sidelines of the 19th meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) that concluded in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Khurshed Alam, secretary of the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deputy secretary-general of the IORA, said almost 40,000 ships are passing through the waters of Indian Ocean daily.
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Source: khaleejtimes.com
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Somalia will announce plans in December for its first ever oil and gas licensing round, its oil minister said on Tuesday, as the frontier market looks to attract new investment after decades of civil strife.
At least three mortar bombs were fired last month at Mogadishu’s international airport, the latest attack in a wave of violence that has afflicted the Horn of Africa nation since clan warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991.
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Source: reuters.com
LOME (Reuters) – Pirates attacked a Greek oil tanker off the coast of Togo in the early hours of Monday and fled after taking four crew members as hostages, the West African nation’s navy said, two days after a similar attack in the waters of neighbouring Benin.
Of the missing crew members, two are Filipinos, one is Greek and one is Georgian, the navy said in a statement. One security guard was also shot and wounded in the attack, it said. “Monday, 4th of November 2019, around 0300, the tanker boat Elka Aristotle […] was attacked around 18 kilometres (11 miles) from the port of Lome by armed individuals,” the statement said.
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Source: euronews.com
Victor Edozie
Three persons are feared dead when gunmen suspected to be sea pirates in the early hours of Saturday attacked three passengers boats en-route Port Harcourt from Billie in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Eyewitness account had it that the gunmen, who attacked the boats separately along the route, also carted away properties belonging to passengers.
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Source: dailytrust.com.ng
In 2010, the Indian Ocean waters were a no go zone for merchant ships. Pirates ruled the waves and often, ships plying the lucrative and historic trade route would find themselves in the wrong hands.
But as the lawlessness went on, one group of pirates found themselves on the wrong end of the gun barrel one night in September 2012. On this day, their seawater-beaten Kalashnikovs met their match and by the time dawn broke, most of them lay dead, with others scattered in the high seas.
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Source: standardmedia.co.ke
A Norway-based shipping company says that nine of its employees have been abducted from one of its vessels while it was moored off the coast of Benin in West Africa.
Shipping firm J.J. Ugland said the cargo ship, the Bonita, was attacked on Saturday by pirates 15km (9 miles) off the coast.
The crew’s identity and nationality have not been made public, but the shipping firm said the rest of the crew moved the vessel into the Port of Cotonou in Benin.
The ship was carrying a cargo of gypsum, a mineral commonly used as fertiliser, which was destined for Benin, the firm said.
While piracy has decreased world wide, West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea remains notorious for abductions by armed groups who usually demand ransoms for the safe return of victims.
Several abductions have been reported in the region in recent months, including eight crew members taken from a German-owned vessel off Cameroon in August, and 10 Turkish sailors off the coast of Nigeria in July.
Source: bbc.com
by Lawal Sherifat
A five-day combined naval exercise has been flagged off in Nigerian waters. The maritime exercise, codenamed: “Grand African Nemo (Navy exercise for maritime operations) involves the participation of four Nigerian Navy ships and a helicopter.
The Exercise, being coordinated by the Nigerian Navy, according to a statement, Wednesday, by the naval spokesman, Commodore Sueman Dahun,” is aimed at supporting the efforts of regional navies to counter criminal activities in the maritime domain through different operational modes of planned exercises.”
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Source: vanguardngr.com
The Iranian “intelligence-combat” flotilla includes a destroyer, dubbed Alvand, and the Bandar Abbas logistical warship.
The flotilla set sail for the high seas immediately after the return of the 63rd naval flotilla, which traveled 15,000 nautical miles in international waters during a 100-day mission.
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Source: tasnimnews.com
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