U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 13 December 2023 - 10 January 2024

U.S. Navy Office of Naval ... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 24 August - 21 September 2022

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 12 January to 9 February 2022

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 1 - 29 December 2021

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 24 November - 22 December 2021

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report, 22 September - 20 October 2021

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

Another interesting site regarding the Gulf of Guinea is a joint effort of the Royal Navy and the French Navy MDAT-GoG, with a live map here. Sample screenshot below:

Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade – Gulf of Guinea (MDAT-GoG) is a cooperation centre between the Royal Navy (UKMTO) and the French Navy (MICA-Center) in support of the Yaounde Process. This centre has been in operation since the 20th June 2016.

The primary output from the MDAT-GoG is to contribute by maintaining coherent maritime situational awareness in the central and western African Maritime areas, with the ability to inform and support industry. It contributes to the safety and security of the Mariner in the regional maritime domain. The information supplied by vessels will be treated as commercially confidential.

Of course, the longer running mappping program concerning maritime piracy and armed robbery is that of the ICC CCS IMB Piracy Reporting Center here

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) for 7 July - 4 August 2021

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) for 12 May - 9 June 2021

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) for 5 May - 2 June 2021

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) for 17 March - 14 April 2021

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) for 2 December to 30 December 2020

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) for 7 May - 3 June 2020

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea on Scribd

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) for 26 March -22 April 2020 and HORN OF AFRICA/GULF OF GUINEA/SOUTHEAST ASIA Weekly Piracy Update for 16 - 22 April 2020

Sea robbers have remained active. Attacks in the lower Gulf of Mexico involving armed men and hostage taking while robbery goes on. Gulf of Guinea kidnapping and violence.

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea on Scribd

U.S. Navy Office of Naval I... by lawofsea on Scribd

West Africa Pirates and Kidnappers- March Ends With A Bang

Source, the excellent ICC International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre Live Piracy & Armed Robbery Report-
Incident 1:

27.03.2020: 1700 UTC: Posn: 02:45.6N – 006:54.9E, Around 97nm South of Bonny Island, Nigeria.
About ten pirates armed with AK-47 in a skiff doing 21 knots, chased and fired upon a container ship underway. Master raised the alarm, activated distress alert, increased speed and took evasive manoeuvres, resulting in the pirates aborting the attempted attack and moving away. The crew and ship are safe.

Report says it occurred about 97 miles south of Bonny Island

Incident 2:

25.03.2020: 1006 UTC: Posn: 03:07.7N – 005:35.8E, Around 75nm SSW of Bayelsa, Nigeria.
Seven armed pirates in a black speed boat approached and attempted to board a bulk carrier underway. Alarm raised and all non-essential crew mustered in the citadel. Master activated SSAS alert, increased speed and commenced evasive manoeuvres, resulting in the pirates aborting the approach. Vessel and crew safe.

Incident 3:

22.03.2020: 0557 UTC: Posn: 00:33.21N – 008:25.21E, Around 62nm WNW of Libreville, Gabon.
Pirates boarded a container ship underway. Most crew managed to retreat into the citadel. Regional Authorities notified and assistance was dispatched to the ship. When the crew emerged from the citadel seven crew were reported missing.

Gulf of Guinea Piracy and Illegal Fishing: Expensive Crimes for the Neighborhood

Hellenic Shipping News reports Nigeria, Others Lose $2bn to Pirates' Attacks

Annually, Says Naval Chief

The Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas, has revealed that Nigeria and 15 other countries in the Gulf of Guinea are currently losing a sum of $2 billion to pirate attacks annually.

The Naval Chief’s revelation was coming two months after Nigeria was rated as number one in pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea in a report by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

Ibas also confirmed THISDAY’s exclusive report that Nigeria loses several millions of dollars to illegal fishing and poaching on the nation’s coastal and territorial waters.

THISDAY report here:

Nigeria is losing $600 million annually to illegal and unreported fishing by foreign vessels as a result of lack of equipment such as Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), and adequate manpower to police the country’s vast coastline, THISDAY’s investigation has revealed.

THISDAY gathered that the country also spends $800 million annually on fish importation, being the fourth largest importer of fish in the world, after China, Japan and the United States.
***
The document titled, “Fisheries Crime Activities in West Africa Coastal Region,” showed that Nigeria spends about $800 million (N324 billion) to import fish to bridge the supply gap.

According to the document, Nigeria in 2018 imported fish worth $71 million, $56 million, $43 million and $174 million from Iceland, Russia, Norway and Netherlands respectively.

The document also showed that West Africa remains a global hotspot for illegal fishing with estimated losses of $2.9 billion.

The document further revealed that over 450 Chinese vessels fish illegally in Nigeria and the coast of West Africa, adding that, “a survey carried out by the West Africa Task Force showed that over 37 per cent of all fish caught in West Africa are caught illegally with China, Taiwan, Russia, South Korea, Spain, France and Thailand being the main countries responsible.

“This is aside vessels from other countries and artisanal fishing in Nigeria inland water ways in areas such as Badore, Epe and coastal areas in Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Cross Rivers states.”

Nigeria reports it has a project to deal with these issues, Deep Blue Project:

There is hope in the horizon for the high level of insecurity in Nigeria’s waterways as the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has established the Integrated Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure known as Deep Blue Project to drastically reduce criminalities in the Gulf of Guinea.
***
He said, “The Deep Blue Project is a multi-pronged approach towards tackling insecurity in our territorial waters and the entire Gulf of Guinea. What we are doing is fulfilling the training aspect of the project and this will also be complemented by acquisition of assets, such as fast intervention vessels, surveillance aircraft, and other facilities, including a command and control centre for data collection and information sharing that will aid our goals of targeted enforcement.”

Wishing them the best of luck with that. The GOG is a huge area.

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 20 March - 19 April 2017

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 20 March - 19 April 2017 by lawofsea on Scribd

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 6 February - 8 March 2017

Apparently some sort of armed folks are back and bobbing about in the Gulf of Aden:

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 6 February - 8 March 2017 by lawofsea on Scribd

Fighting Pirates and Sea Kidnappers with a Private-Public Deal Off Nigeria

Maritime Executive reports on a Private Maritime Security with Active Duty Personnel off Nigeria:

***
. . .[T]he contractor may provide private patrol vessels, which are then "crewed, flagged and armed by the Nigerian Navy [who] use Nigerian national Rules of Engagement" on for-hire ship escort missions arranged by the PMSCs.

Damen FCS 3307

Diaplous Maritime Services Nigeria says that its security escort vessels have seven to 10 Nigerian Navy servicemembers on board and are armed and equipped to deter emerging threats. The firm uses Damen FCS 3307 patrol boats, the same model recently delivered to Nigeria's Homeland Integrated Offshore Services Limited (HIOSL).

In addition, in cooperation with the Nigerian Navy, Diaplous offers armed embarked maritime security teams of four to eight members. For unarmed options, it can provide security consultants – Hellenic nationals or former Nigerian Navy officers – who are experienced in operating in the Gulf of Guinea security environment. ***

However it happens, more forces on the water are a good idea to fight the bad guys in the Gulf of Guinea.

Hat tip to Claude Berube. , whose books you should buy.

Photo from Damen.

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 Piracy, Kidnapping or Something . . . an informative look

Nice video at The Maritime Executive's Maritime TV"Pirates Attack Oil Supply Vessel":

Dr. Captain John A.C. Cartner, a maritime piracy expert about possible scenarios surrounding this attack. He also addresses possible motivations for the attack ranging from robbery to mutiny.

As you will see, even the complications have complications . . .

Hat tip to Lee.

Update: A link to the gCaptain report suggesting something amiss with the vessel's track.