Gulf of Guinea Piracy: Product Tanker Hijacked and Cargo Stolen, but Ghana Arrests 8 Pirates

Report from Live Piracy and Armed Robbery Report 2015

Location detail: Around 63nm SW off Bayelsa, Nigeria
Type of Attack: Hijacked
Narrations:
11.01.2015: 0500 LT: Posn: 03:44N – 004:59E, Around 63nm SW of Bayelsa, Nigeria.
Ten pirates armed with AK47 rifles boarded and hijacked a product tanker and took hostage all nine crew. They transferred the fuel oil cargo to another vessel and two pirates departed with that vessel. The Ghanaian navy dispatched a naval vessel to investigate as the vessel moved into its waters. The naval boarding team arrested the remaining eight pirates. During the incident the crew were mistreated by the pirates.

Emphasis added.

GNS Blika

More from Graphic Online Ghana Navy arrest 8 Nigerian pirates, frees seized ship:

The Ghana Navy on Saturday foiled a pirate attack on a Nigerian cargo vessel, MT Mariam and captured all eight bandits.

The pirates were armed but no one, including a nine-member crew aboard MT Mariam, was injured when the Ghana Navy crew aboard GNS BLIKA effected the arrest.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the 1 Garrison of the Ghana Armed Forces, Lt Maxwell Asola, all eight pirates are Nigerians.
***Lt. Maxwell Asola told the Daily Graphic that the arrest took place at about 10:30am and that the owner of the vessel in lodging the complaint, said the pirates told him via telephone that they wanted to use the vessel to carry out an attack and banged the phone.

This prompted the owner of MV Mariam to approach the Ghana Navy for assistance.

Gulf of Guinea Oil "Pirates"

Over the past few months there has been much discussion of the "oil pirates" of the Gulf of Guinea who grab tankers, empty their oil cargoes and release the ships. One of the lingering questions has been what they are doing with the oil they have stolen. One fascinating possibility is reported by Benoît Faucon and Drew Hinshaw in the Wall Street Journal's "Tiny Ghana Oil Platform's Big Output Sparks Scrutiny" (which is behind a subscription block) where they report,

A small oil facility off the coast of Africa appears to be sending lots of crude to Europe, raising questions by Nigerian and U.S. authorities about whether some of it is pilfered Nigerian crude that they say is increasingly making it to global markets.

Ghana's government inaugurated the Saltpond platform back in 1978 to pump oil from an offshore field. In its heyday, the field, located seven miles off the country's coast, produced more than a million barrels a year. That has dwindled to just over 100,000 barrels over the course of 2013, according to Ghana's finance ministry.
But since last August, three tankers picked up more than 470,000 barrels from Saltpond, transporting it to an Italian refinery near the port of Genoa, according to port officials, ship-tracking services and port records.

The article notes that there are some legitimate shipments through the platform, but

The Saltpond platform, meanwhile, has been a destination for at least one vessel connected to Nigerian oil theft, according to ship-tracking services.
***
Two cargoes, unloaded in August 2013 and February 2014, carried about 340,000 barrels altogether, according to Genoa port officials. The third tanker, unloaded on April of this year, carried 132,000 barrels. Together, that's more than four times the platform's 2013 output of around 100,000 barrels, according to the Ghana government figures.

Very interesting.

Oil and money. Two parts of a formula for corruption and crooks.

More on the Saltpond Oil Field and its current operator Saltpond Offshore Producing Company Limited.

Gulf of Guinea Pirates: Flag State Liberia says ‘Kerala’ hijacked

For a couple of weeks, the saga of the gas oil tanker Kerala has been drifting along. From the early reports hijacking, there have been allegations by the Angolan Navy that the hijacking was faked by the crew.
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Now, Tanker Operator has a follow-on report, "Tanker Operator Liberia says ‘Kerala’ hijacked":

Liberia has entered into the controversy surrounding the alleged hijacking of Dynacom’s LR1 ‘Kerala’ off Angola on 18th January, 2014.

The flag state said that although the investigation is still ongoing, the evidence gathered thus far by an INTERPOL-led incident response team has allowed the Liberian Registry to conclude that the vessel was hijacked by pirates.
***
During the incident, the registry said that the pirates disabled the vessel’s AIS and other communication equipment so that the vessel could not be tracked from shore or satellite. The pirates also painted over the identifying features of the vessel, including funnel, name and IMO number and undertook three separate ship-to-ship transfers unloading about 12,271.5 tonnes of oil in total.
***
On arrival at Tema, all crew members received immediate medical treatment. During the hijacking, one crew member was stabbed by the pirates and others were beaten.

Liberia, of course, is not the "operator" of the vessel but rather the nation which provides the flag of convenience for ships. The operator of the vessel is Dynacom, which asserts it was a hijacking all along. Angola might just have an interest in claiming that its waters are safe which might have clouded their initial reaction.

A noted in prior post, this will be an interesting legal mess to sort out. There are lots of players:

Liberia will continue working with the authorities in Ghana, Nigeria and Angola and elsewhere in the region in order to bring to justice the perpetrators of this crime, the registry stressed.

Good luck with that.

You might note that shutting off the AIS and the painting indicates a modicum of sophistication in the purported hijackers. Three offloads? Wow.

Gulf of Guinea Pirates: Ghana Buys Chinese Counter-Pirate Vessels

Ghana Orders Two 46 m Patrol Vessels from China’s Poly Technologies Incorporated:

Ghana has ordered two 46 metre patrol vessels from China’s Poly Technologies Incorporated as part of a larger drive to modernise its navy. The vessels will be used to combat piracy and increase maritime security off Ghana’s coast once they are delivered before yearend.

According to Ghana’s defence minister Lieutenant General Joseph Henry Smith, the vessels form part of the drive to modernise Ghana’s navy as it is not able to defend the country’s exclusive economic zone.
***
“We have constantly been reviewing our measures to safeguard our waters, most importantly to protect our oil installations,” Smith told Reuters last month. “We are aware of the increasing piracy attacks in our neighbourhood and we are very much prepared to face any such attacks.”

So, unlike the failed state of Somalia, Ghana takes steps to protect its waters including counter-piracy and fisheries protection.

Good for Ghana.

Gulf of Guinea Pirates: Pirated Vessel Reportedly Found in Shipyard in Ghana

Red arrow points to Ghana

One of the differences between Gulf of Guinea piracy and Somali piracy is that the failed state of Somalia provides a couple of "safe havens" for the pirates to hold captured ships and their crews until they are ransomed, whereas the states along the Gulf of Guinea, while not all strong, have not failed to the extent of Somalia. However, even in these states, there just might be some level of corruption that might allow a different sort of piracy. It appears, according to this report, The Nation - "NIMASA traces missing vessel to Ghanaian shipyard", Ghana may have such a problem:

A Motor Tanker Vessel, MT KEMEPADE which was reported missing from the Lagos anchorage on Wednesday 28th September2011 has been found in a Ship Yard at Tema Habour in Ghana with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) number wipped off.

The Vessel, which was reported missing by the owner had one sailor on board at the time of the incident.

In line with her statutory responsibilities to ensure safety and security of ships on Nigerian waters, the Management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, requested shipping in the area via radio to report sighting.

Aside of deploying Automatic Identification Tracking System (AIS),the Agency also collaborated with neigbouring countries such as Togo, Liberia and Benin through their Maritime Rescue Coordination Centers (MRCCs) to enhance the search operation.

Five days later, the Vessel was found in a Ship Yard at Tema Habour in Ghana with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) number completely wipped off.

While the Agency is yet to determin the fate of the sole crew member onboard at the time of dissapearance, NIMASA is liaising with Ghanian Authorities for further investigation.

Meanwhile, the agency has issued a stearn warning to all those who engage in illegal business in the nation’s territorial waters to desist from such acts henceforth.(sic)

If true, Ghana is not unique in having this issue. A few months ago, a hijacked tug was found in a shipyard in the Philippines, as noted here and there are previous incidents involving China.