We cover piracy, armed robbery at sea, IUU fishing, maritime cyber security and maritime security issues.
Cargo ship was reportedly attacked in the morning Aug 28 in Gulf of Guinea, SW of Lagos Nigeria. According to tracks of ships in the area, it is most probably, tanker PIKE, en route from Lagos to Rotterdam.
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Source: maritimebulletin.net
By Chiazo Ogbolu
Dr Bashir Jamoh, the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA), on Monday said teamwork among agencies was the surest means to securing Nigeria’s maritime domain.
Jamoh made this known in a statement signed by Mr Philip Kyanet, the Head, Corporate Communications, NIMASA. According to him, he visited the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammed Babandede, to intensify the quest for cooperation among relevant government agencies in a bid to secure Nigeria’s maritime domain.
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Source: naija247news.com
The inauguration ceremony of the new state-of-the-art Joint Maritime Information Coordination Centre (JMICC) was held in Karachi on Friday, and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi graced the occasion as chief guest and inaugurated the new setup.
The spokesman for the navy said in a statement that the JMICC functioned as a nerve centre to harmonise the efforts of all maritime-related organisations and agencies. It helped generating a coordinated response to maritime security challenges within Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), primarily through information-sharing and inter department/ agency coordination, he added.
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Source: thenews.com.pk
Taipei, Aug. 23 (CNA) A Chinese boat captain, who is suspected of ordering the killing of at least four unarmed men at sea some six years ago, was detained by Taiwanese authorities on Saturday soon after he entered Kaohsiung port on a fishing boat.
The 43-year-old suspect was arrested when the Seychelles-flagged Indian Star docked in the southern port city at 8:50 a.m. Saturday, the Coast Guard Administration’s investigation unit in Fengshan District said.
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Source: focustaiwan.tw
MarsecNews: This refers to a video which appeared online in 2014, apparently found on a phone left in a taxi, which shows several men shot dead at sea by unknown gunmen.
The armed guard who held the crew of the Eagle Bulk controlled Jaeger supramax last month has done it again.
The Ukrainian, who worked for private maritime security company (PMSC) Alphard, this week broke into the armoury onboard the Golden Palm, operated by Spain’s Palm Charters, and took the crew hostage again in his fight over back pay.
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Source: splash247.com
Rota, August 21st, 2020
EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation Atalanta has completed incident response procedures in response to a possible act of piracy off the Coast of Somalia with the support of a Japanese aircraft of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) and in close coordination with local authorities in Somalia.
On August 18th, EU NAVFOR OHQ Joint Operations Centre detected suspicious movements when Panama flagged MT “AEGIAN II”, a chemical/oil tanker with armed security guards on board in transit from Shajah (UAE) and bound for Mogadishu (Somalia) altered her course without any apparent reason. Expeditious investigations conducted by a EU NAVFOR maritime patrol aircraft including radio contact, concluded that the vessel was having technical problems and the crew was safe.
On August 20th, open sources reported that a vessel could have been hijacked in the same area. EU NAVFOR Somalia connected this information to the situation of the MT “AEGEN II”, previously monitored, and ESPS Santa Maria was detached to investigate and execute incident response procedures with the support of a CMF aircraft.
ESPS Santa Maria approached the Panama-flagged MT “AEGEAN II” and confirmed the initial assessment that the reported suspicious movements were due to damages in the hull caused by rough sea. Contacted by EU NAVFOR OP ATALANTA Force Commander, RDAM Villanueva, Bossaso port authority reported that MT “AEGEAN II” had not been hijacked and that Garadfoo police had been sent on board to inspect the vessel when she was drifting off Bereeda waiting for technical assistance.
While ESPS Santa Maria was collecting information, the Master revealed that there had been certain incidents on board the vessel. At this point, the event cannot be classified as a maritime security event, but a more detailed investigation is in progress.
MT “AEGEAN II” weighed anchor and is currently underway proceeding to an intermediate destination being closely monitored by ESPS Santa Maria.
This incident underlines, once again, the importance of EU NAVFOR Somalia’s presence at the Horn of Africa in the fulfilment of Operation ATALANTA’s mandate and that cooperation with local authorities, as well as other stakeholders in the region is essential to ensure freedom of navigation in the region.
In the light of this event, it is important to emphasize, once more, the importance of registering to MSCHOA’s Voluntary Registration Scheme. This will allow EU NAVFOR Somalia to monitor vessels in the area and use its assets in a more efficient way.
EU NAVFOR Somalia continues to urge the Maritime Industry to remain vigilant when transiting the high-risk area and to comply with the recommended Best Management Practises (BMP 5).
Source: eunavfor.eu
Chinese longliner SHENGHAI2 was attacked by armed persons early in the morning Aug 21 on Freetown anchorage, Sierra Leone. Crew reportedly, tried to thwart an attack with ensuing fight, several crew were injured, including some seriously wounded.
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Source: maritimebulletin.net
The military, Thursday, said aggressive operations against economic sabotage in the Niger Delta, had resulted in the “deactivation” of 150,000 litres of illegally refined automatuve gas oil (AGO), as well as 943.47 barrels of crude oil.
It noted that the operations that culminated in the feat, were conducted between August 13 and 19 respectively.
The coordinator, Defence Media Operations (DMO), Major General John Enenche, made the disclosure at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, during the regular briefing to provide updates on ongoing military operations across the country.
While expressing satisfaction with troops’ exploits in the various theatres of operations, Enenche vowed the readiness of the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) to sustain the momentum of operations, to rid the country of crime and criminality.
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Source: newtelegraphng.com
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A group, Vanguard Against Corruption (VAC) has petitioned the Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok Ekwe Ibas, and the Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Abdullahi Gana Mohammadu, accusing some companies based in the United Kingdom, of of operating illegally on Nigerian water ways.
It alleged that the companies… [names of companies redacted due to potential libel issues] were providing security escort operations to foreign cargo vessels and Tankers entering Nigerian waters, without Naval and NSCDC approvals, and payment of requisite taxes to the Federal inland revenue services.
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Source: leadership.ng
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The chargé d’affaires of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry over the UAE coast guard’s move to shoot at a number of Iranian fishing boats and the seizure of one of them in the Persian Gulf on August 17, 2020.
Right after the incident in which two fishermen were also killed, relevant Iranian officials put on their agenda an immediate investigation into the tragic event. After the situation on the ground was carefully examined, the UAE diplomat was summoned to the ministry in the early hours of the following days by the director of the International Legal Affairs Department of the ministry.
At the ministry, the Iranian official condemned the UAE vessels’ harassment of the Iranian fishing boats, saying the responsibility for this illegal and out-of-norm move rests with the UAE government.
He stressed that those arrested as well as the fishing boats seized must be released, and bodies of those killed must be handed over to Iran. The Iranian official also demanded compensation for the damage inflicted and called on the UAE to take the necessary measures to prevent such events from happening again in the future.
The UAE charge daffaires, for his part, expressed regret over the incident, and underlined that he will inform Abu Dhabi of the developments accordingly.
In less than 24 hours, another meeting was also held between the UAE diplomat and the Iranian official to follow up on the outcome of the previous talks.
Following these developments in Tehran and thanks to efforts by the Iranian embassy in the UAE, the Abu Dhabi government sent an official note yesterday expressing deep sorrow over the incident and expressed its readiness to make up for all the damage inflicted.
Also, through the coordination of both countries’ border guards, the seized fishing boat and its crew were released. The legal procedure for delivering the bodies of those killed is underway.
Moreover, on the same day (August 17, 2020) a UAE vessel was intercepted and its crew arrested by Iranian border guard boats for illegally entering Iranian waters. Legal procedure is underway to look into the situation of the vessel.
The Foreign Ministry deems it necessary to once again announce to all countries in the Persian Gulf that the Islamic Republic of Iran brooks no encroachment upon its interests and no harassment of its nationals in the Persian Gulf, and will adopt all necessary measures to support its vessels and nationals.
Source: tasnimnews.com
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