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.
To continue reading, please click here.
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.
To continue reading, please click here.
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.
To continue reading, please click here.
Source: khaleejtimes.com
Bakana Boat Drivers Union, an umbrella body of boat operators in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers state, has called on the state government to deploy Navy and Marine police to waterways as a way of curbing sea piracy in the state.
Chairman of the union, Alabo Benson Yellow, made the appeal while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt on the recent boat attack that led to the killing of three passengers at Bille Jetty by pirates, at the weekend.
To continue reading, please click here.
Source: thetidenewsonline.com
N the last one month, sea robbers have unleashed terror on passenger speed boats plying the Bonny, Okrika, Bille, Andoni, Kula and Ogoni river waterways in Rivers State, killing security operatives in the process and carting away personal belongings of boat passengers, including taking away boat engines during such attacks.
Disclosing this to Tribune Online on Wednesday via telephone interview, a member of the Trustee of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Harry White wondered what has happened to gunboats that were recently procured by the Rivers State government to tackle maritime crimes.
To continue reading, please click here.
Source: tribuneonlineng.com
EXACTLY six years after Chatham House, an independent policy institute based in London, the United Kingdom, first alerted the world to the systemic theft of Nigerian oil “on an industrial scale”, the country is still haemorrhaging from the deep cut inflicted by massive oil theft. Instead of witnessing a stem-to-stern effort to check the grand larceny, the situation has profoundly worsened. Although the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation puts what is stolen at 120,000 barrels per day, a new report reveals that an average of 400,000 barrels of crude is purloined on a daily basis.
To continue reading, please click here.
Source: punchng.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.
To continue reading, please click here.
Source: reuters.com
Worried by the unabated sea pirate attacks which have resulted in constant fears and loss of several lives on the waterways, Chairman of the Community Development Committee of Bille Kingdom, Dr Somieari Isaac, has pleaded with the government to deploy the Navy to station in the New Calabar and Sombriero Rivers to check criminality on the waterways.
Making the appeal in a chat with The Tide, last Monday, in Port Harcourt, the CDC Chairman noted that several months after the Governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, and the Chairman of DELGA, Dr Tony Philmoore, launched the ‘Operation Sting’ security outfit, the community is yet to see a single gunboat patrolling the waterways.
To continue reading, please click here.
Source: thetidenewsonline.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.
To continue reading, please click here.
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.
To continue reading, please click here.
Source: standardmedia.co.ke
Maritime Security News 