Landing the Big One

Landing the Big One

Thursday, July 19, 2012

West Africa Pirates: Attack on Container Ship

Arrow points to area of attack
The headline reads, "Container Ship Pirated Off the Coast of Guinea" which implies a Somali-style ship grab. In reality, however, it was a more typical sea robbery event in which the pirates board, threaten, rob and leave the ship with their loot while the crew carries on.
MV Olivia
ShipSpotting.com
© Dragec

From the article:
. . . The safer waters of the Gulf of Guinea however have seen an increased threat and this week a pirate raid was made on the German owned container ship Olivia at around 04:00 hours on the 15th July.

Guinea
At the request of the Handy Shipping Guide the owners, Bremen based Herm. Dauelsberg, issued a statement saying the vessel was boarded by a group of armed pirates some 20 nautical miles off Conakry who proceeded to rob the crew of valuables. Herm. Dauelsberg confirms that all seafarers on board Olivia are safe and accounted for and that there were no injuries to the crew. Following the attack, the crew has resumed command of the vessel which has now proceeded on her voyage to North Africa.

The Olivia is a 20,000+ dwt box carrier flagged in Liberia and built in 1995. The fact that the pirates did not take control of the vessel typifies the type of attack most often seen in this particular region as compared to East Africa and, although serious and extremely frightening for the crew, compares well with the savagery of the usual Somali piracy incidents.

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