PiracyNews

Pirates Attack LNG Carrier in Gulf of Guinea

By MarEx 2018-11-12 18:46:00

On November 6, pirates pursued and fired on an unnamed LNG tanker in the Gulf of Guinea. At about 0600 hours UTC, nine pirates in a speedboat approached the vessel at a position about 30 nm southwest of Bonny, Nigeria, an oil and gas production hub in the Niger River Delta. The attackers opened fire on the vessel and made several attempts to get close, but the master sped up and took evasive maneuvers. The pirates ultimately abandoned the attack and...

Pirates Repelled from Stena Bulk Vessel West of Yemen

By MarEx 2018-11-06 17:55:44

The crew of the Stena Imperial successfully thwarted a pirate attack on November 3 whilst northbound through the Red Sea west of Yemen. The tanker was on her way from the Far East to Rotterdam when two suspicious skiffs approached from the port side at a distance of 1.5 nautical miles. The alarm was raised and the Master and the on board security team mustered on the bridge. Hand flares were fired towards the skiffs as warning shots as they were continuously...

Dual Hijacking and Kidnapping Reported off Republic of Congo

By MarEx 2018-11-01 12:39:17

On October 29, in an unusual double attack, pirates boarded and took command of the bunkering tanker Anuket Amber at a position 100 nm off Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo. The same day, the aggressors also boarded an OSV, took four hostages and transferred them to the Anuket Amber. According to an initial report published by the IMB ICC, a group of pirates in a speed boat chased and fired upon an LPG tanker that was carrying out underway ship-to-ship bunkering...

Rise in Piracy, Rise in Crisis Care for Seafarers

By MarEx 2018-10-31 19:27:54

Sailors’ Society’s Crisis Response Network (CRN) provided support to its 100th case this week, with piracy, death at sea and abandonment accounting for almost two-thirds of those supported. More than a quarter of seafarers seeking crisis response are affected by piracy, says the charity. The high level of piracy cases reflects the rise in piracy reported by the International Maritime Bureau for the first six months of this year, which saw 107 actual or attempted attacks, up from 87 in...

ReCAAP Warns of New Abu Sayyaf Kidnapping Threat

By MarEx 2018-10-30 17:58:00

On Tuesday, the ReCAAP piracy reporting center warned that a faction of the Abu Sayyaf Group is preparing to launch another round of pirate attacks in the waters off Sabah, Malaysia. According to ReCAAP, the Philippine Coast Guard believes that a group of about ten Abu Sayyaf members are planning to conduct kidnappings in and around Eastern Sabah "at any opportune time." The ASG fighters do not have specific, pre-identified targets, but are expected to pursue "businessmen or ship's crew...

EU NAVFOR Blows Up Suspected Pirate Skiff

By MarEx 2018-10-29 19:47:00

On Sunday, EU NAVFOR's naval forces destroyed a pirate skiff similar to that used in the attempted attack on the bulker KSL Sydney. On October 16, a skiff with four armed pirates approached the Sydney at a position about 340 nm off Mogadishu. The captain mustered the crew in the vessel's citadel and set off the SSAS alarm. Meanwhile, the Sydney's embarked security team engaged the attackers in a "sustained exchange of fire," according to EUNAVFOR. The skiff eventually broke...

Pirates Abduct Eleven from Container Ship

By MarEx 2018-10-29 19:35:41

Pirates have seized 11 crewmembers from the container ship Pomerenia Sky off the coast of Nigeria. The Liberia-flagged vessel was headed for the Nigerian port of Onne on Saturday morning when the attack occurred, reports ship manager Midocean (IOM). Those abducted include eight from Poland, two Filipinos and a Ukrainian. Nine crew members remain on board the vessel and are reportedly unharmed, and the vessel has sailed to safety. The region has seen a spate of attacks. On October 17,...

Bulker Attacked by Pirates off Somalia

By MarEx 2018-10-19 18:05:57

On Wednesday, the bulker KSL Sydney was attacked by armed men in a skiff far off the east coast of Somalia, the latest sign that piracy remains a threat in the western Indian Ocean. According to the IMB ICC and EUNAVFOR Operation Atalanta, a skiff with four armed pirates approached the Sydney at a position about 340 nm off Mogadishu. The captain mustered the crew in the vessel's citadel and set off the SSAS alarm. Meanwhile, the Sydney's embarked security...

ReCAAP: Piracy Hits Decadal Lows in Asia

By MarEx 2018-10-12 15:04:50

Piracy in Asia has fallen to decadal lows, according to the latest numbers from regional reporting center ReCAAP. The number of actual reported incidents between January and September 2018 were the lowest recorded since the same period in 2009 (excluding attempted incidents). The relatively low-level nature of most attacks is also encouraging: the vast majority reported during the nine-month period were incidents of armed robbery, not full-blown kidnappings or hijackings. However, the risk of abduction is still very real in...

Pirates Kidnap Twelve from Swiss Bulk Carrier

By MarEx 2018-09-22 18:12:37

Pirates kidnapped 12 crew members from a Swiss bulk carrier in Nigerian waters on Saturday. Seven other crew members were on board the Massoel Shipping vessel Glarus at the time. The vessel was carrying wheat between Lagos and Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta, and the attack happened around 45 nautical miles south west of Bonny Island. The pirates apparently used long ladders and cut the razor wire on deck to gain access to the vessel and destroyed the ship’s...