Gulf of Guinea Counter-Piracy- Regional Agreement

Interregional Institute for Maritime Safety (ISMI) Empowers Maritime Officers To Fight Piracy In The Gulf Of Guinea:

The Interregional Institute for Maritime Safety (ISMI) has deepened

the capacity of maritime officers to fight against piracy on the seas.

Participants were brought together from Benin, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Côte d'Ivoire.
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The Regional Coordinator of the Action of the State of the Sea, Guillaume de Beauregard, noted that the threat of piracy is still high and prevalent hence, the need to empower officers with the necessary ability to tackle the canker on sea.

"From 2017 to 2018, 40% of the 180 to 201 attacks worldwide were in the Gulf of Guinea. All the kidnappings that took place in 2018 took place in the Gulf of Guinea,” he stated.

According to him, the first figures for 2019 are rather encouraging, though all specialists agree that the Gulf of Guinea remains a hot spot for piracy in the world.

Interesting. The area needs a little less talk, though, and a lot more action.

Sea Piracy and Similar Stuff

Captured pirates respond to a survey "warships are a primary deterrent" to their going back to their previous field of work, reports DefenceWeb:

*** International naval presence was frequently reported as a concern or as making a significant contribution to deterring pirates. The same was true for armed guards aboard vessels, although to a lesser degree than the presence of warships. ****

Not too shocking - while private guards warn would-be pirates off with warning shots, warships tend to arrest them and arrange to have them thrown into jail. Also not too surprising, these incarcerated pirates took up piracy because they were poor and had few prospects ashore and they don't like being in prison. The flaws in the UN survey are discussed in the article.

Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide says Welcome to the New Piracy Capital by which they mean Southeast Asia:

According to a recent report from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and International Maritime Bureau (IMB), since the start of 2015, Southeast Asia has accounted for 55 per cent of the world’s 54 piracy and armed robbery incidents. According to these statistics, Southeast Asia has regained the reputation as the region in the world most afflicted by piracy.

Seems to be mostly based on the the first quarter of 2105 statistics and news releases like this One coastal tanker hijacked every two weeks in SE Asia , which is a variation of piracy in that most of those hijacked ships have all or part of their cargo pumped off into a "pirate" vessel and then the hijacked ship is released. Call it "cargo piracy."

Whatever you call it, here's a map extracted from the IMB's Live Piracy Map which shows (as of 21 July 15) how busy the area has been:

Since the Somali pirates have gone to ground, the area off the Somali coast and in the Northern Indian Ocean has been very, very quiet. There has also been a slowdown in West African activity, as seen (as of 21 July 15) by this extracted map:

The IMB and the folks at its Piracy Reporting Center who keep track of this stuff do a great job, and deserve much credit for helping to prompt counter-piracy activity around the world in recent years.

The U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence also does a nice job of keeping track of piracy and other threats to shipping here. Their Worldwide Threats to Shipping report is very extensive, as evidenced by these recent entries from West Africa:

UNCLASSIFIED
F. (U) WEST AFRICA:
1. (U) TOGO: On 14 July, near position 06:07 N -001:16 E, Lome Anchorage, the deck watch of an anchored container ship noticed a wooden boat with five individuals and no lights circling the vessel with the intention of climbing on board. Alarm was raised, crew was mustered and all exterior lights turned on. Seeing crew alertness
the occupants of the boat aborted their approach and moved away. No weapons were sighted. Togo Navy informed. (MTISC-GOG)
2. (U) NIGERIA: On 9 July, seven gunmen in two speedboats opened fire on the passenger vessel MV TARI while conveying passengers from Port Harcourt in Rivers State to Okpoama community in Bayelsa State. One person was killed in the attack and two persons, including the vessel’s master, were kidnapped. (nationalmirroronline.net)

West Africa Pirates: French tanker, 17 crew grabbed off Ivory Coast

Reported as Pirates seize French tanker, 17 crew off Ivory Coast

Suspected Nigerian pirates have hijacked a French-owned Luxembourg-flagged tanker along with its 17-member crew off Ivory Coast, Ivorian officials and the International Maritime Bureau said on Monday.

The Gulf of Guinea area is second only to the waters off Somalia for piracy and there has been a spate of violent attacks in vessels in recent days, prompting the bureau to issue a security alert for the region.

Gascogne

The Gascogne was the second vessel to be seized off Ivory Coast in less than three weeks and the first to have been taken so far from shore.

ShipSpotting.com

© Victor Cadelina, Jr.

From the ICC IMB Live Piracy Map, a couple of images of the location of this most recent attack (Map1) and the Gulf of Guinea attack this far in 2013 (Map 2):

Map 1

Map 2

An interesting comparison of West African pirates to those operating off East Africa (read Somalia) at West African piracy: different but the same…. which links to :

Reports from East African (Somali) piracy hijackings typically describe hostage situations lasting for long periods of time to negotiate ransom. One rarely hears about attempts to monetize the ship’s cargo. West African pirates, however, often target oil tankers—both to seek ransom and to discharge the liquid cargo for black-market sale. While successful capture may take days instead of months, pirates reportedly engage in more gratuitous violence while forcing crews to cooperate in vessel movement and product discharge against their will.

While government structures are stronger in West Africa compared to East Africa, alleged government and commercial corruption provide intelligence to pirates while inadequate counter-piracy laws complicate prosecution. Insufficient regional cooperation among Nigeria, Togo and Benin thwart interdiction of pirates in multi-jurisdictional waters. Since hijackings take place both within national territorial waters and beyond, the legal distinction between armed robbery and piracy complicates prosecution, too. West African piracy more resembles transnational organized crime with more sophisticated vessels and weapons compared to that of East Africa.

Gulf of Guinea Pirates: Gasoline Tanker Hijacked Off Togo

AFP report Tanker with valuable cargo 'hijacked' off Togo:

A Singapore-managed product tanker with valuable gasoline cargo has gone missing and is suspected to have been hijacked by pirates while at anchor off Lome, Togo, a maritime watchdog said Tuesday. Potengal Mukundan, director of the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB), told AFP international warships and navies from neighbouring countries have been alerted and are searching for the ship, which has 24 crew members and was reported missing by the operators Tuesday.
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"Here we have criminal gangs whose main purpose is to steal multi-million cargo which is gasoline as it has a ready market. It is very easy to dispose of it. There has been an underground trade in the Gulf of Guinea for decades."

Mukundan said so far in 2012 there have been 19 attacks off the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa, with two vessels hijacked. Forty-two crew have been taken hostage, two crew members killed and two kidnapped by pirates.

For those of you have forgotten, Togo is in the oval between Benin and Ghana, near Nigeria.

West Africa (Gulf of Guinea) Pirates: Now Using Mother Ships?

Nigeria

MarineLink report: "Bergen Risk Solutions says Nigerian pirates now using mother ships":

Bergen Risk Solutions, the Norwegian based specialist in political, maritime and security risk assessments that puts a special focus on Nigeria and the Niger Delta, has identified a worrying new trend in Nigerian piracy - the use of mother ships and skiffs in a similar manner to Somali Pirate Action Groups.

Increased range for these pirates is not a good trend. No really failed state akin to Somalia nearby, though, so taking whole ships may not be too likely yet. Theft of moveables and kidnapping of crew members for ransom, though, is a long time practice in the region.

Gulf of Guinea Pirates: Update

Pirates release Cypriot tanker seized off Benin:

Pirates have released a Cyprus-flagged tanker seized off the West African country of Benin on 15 September with a 23-strong crew, including five Spaniards, a Spanish foreign ministry spokeswoman said Saturday.
***The coast of Benin, which neighbours Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, has seen a steep increase in hijackings this year, with 19 ships coming under attack.

Of the 19, eight were hijacked, nine were boarded and there were unsuccessful attempts to attack two others, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
***Unlike the explosion of piracy off the coast of Somalia on the eastern side of the continent in recent years, those involved in the recent West African attacks have so far not appeared to be after ransom payments.

Report on ship capture here.

West Africa "Piracy": Cameroon Harbor Attacks

A couple of kidnappings and some robberies of ship crews of vessels moored in Douala Harbor are worthy of note as set out in "Shipping Piracy Moves To West African Coast" from the Handy Shipping Guide:

The fashion for piracy has seemingly moved directly across the continent with several attacks taking place on Sunday 12th September in the harbour at Douala. An armed gang roamed the moorings and attacked two vessels terrorising the crews and robbing them of valuables.

After the initial assaults the gang attacked a trailing suction hopper dredger, the Amerigo Vespucci, and despite some resistance, seized two crew members, one Filipino, the other Croatian.

Robberies of a similar sort happen in ports around the world and do not meet the UNCLOS definition of "piracy" ("high seas" being a required location).

On the other hand, the International Maritime Bureau has long taken a more expansive view of piracy, a matter of an email exchange that I had with Noel Choong, director of the International Maritime Bureau's anti-piracy office a couple of years ago (see here). The IMB has a commendable goal of saving ship crews and improving safety and takes in a broader scope of crimes against shipping is covered by the UNCLOS definition.

Call it what you will, there are a couple of kidnapped sailors at risk and that is the real concern here.

Piracy. robbery and kidnapping are not new visitors to West Africa, though, as the following IMB derived maps show:

Ship photo from the owner's website here.

Cameroon: A Couple of Russians Taken by Pirates - and that may just be the beginning of the story

Two Russians, including former Arctic Sea sailor, abducted in Africa:

Two Russian seamen, including a former member of the Arctic Sea cargo vessel at the center of a hijacking saga last year, have been abducted in Cameroon, a Russian sailors' trade union said on Monday.

The North Spirit vessel, flying the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and owned by Greece's Balthellas Chartering S.A., was attacked by pirates on Sunday while anchored in Cameroon's largest port of Douala.

"At 22:40 local time [21:40 GMT] two boats with about 20 armed men approached the vessel. The armed men ordered the crew to gather on the upper deck and made them lay them face down. Another group of pirates broke into the cabins of the crew members and the captain and took their personal belongings," the union said in a statement.

The attackers took captain Boris Tersintsev and chief engineering officer Igor Shumik hostage and left the ship.

Shumik was among the 15 crew members on the Arctic Sea cargo ship, which disappeared for more than three weeks last summer while carrying a $2 million shipment of timber from Finland to Algeria.

Most of you will remember the remarkable saga of the MV Arctic Sea (see also here and here). You might also note a couple of 8 suspected "pirates" ended up in A Russian prison.

Earlier reports had the ship being captured by pirates, but that doesn't seem to be the case.UPDATE: Fairplay says the ship was taken.


Photo of "North Spirit" by Alec Sansen at Shipspotting.com and used in accord with that site's terms.