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International Maritime Bureau News

21 Mar 2024

Somali Pirates' Return Adds to Crisis for Global Shipping Companies

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As a speed boat carrying more than a dozen Somali pirates bore down on their position in the western Indian Ocean, the crew of a Bangladeshi-owned bulk carrier sent out a distress signal and called an emergency hotline.No one reached them in time. The pirates clambered aboard the Abdullah, firing warning shots and taking the captain and second officer hostage, Chief Officer Atiq Ullah Khan said in an audio message to the ship's owners."By the grace of Allah no one has been harmed so far," Khan said in the message, recorded before the pirates took the crew's phones.

14 Dec 2023

Somali Pirates Are Back in Action, But Full Scale Return Unlikely

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An Iranian fishing vessel, Almeraj 1, was reportedly hijacked by Somali pirates in November 2023. According to media reports, the pirates demanded US$400,000 in ransom and threatened to use the Iranian ship for additional hijackings if the payment was not made.Two days later, other Somali pirates hijacked a tanker, Central Park, off the Yemeni coast. The tanker sent a distress signal during the attack. Forces from a nearby American warship captured the pirates as they tried to…

12 Jul 2023

Piracy Is Heating Up In Key Hotspots

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Reported incidents of piracy and attacks on vessels are on the rise in key hotspot areas such as the Gulf of Guinea and Singapore Straits.Sixty-five incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were recorded globally in the first half of 2023, an increase from 58 incidents for the same period in 2022, according to a mid-year report from the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB). Of the 65 incidents reported, 57 vessels were boarded, four had attempted attacks, two were hijacked and two were fired upon. Perpetrators successfully boarded 90% of targeted vessels.

07 Jun 2022

Vessel Incidents on the Rise, Inmarsat Report Finds

Image courtesy Inmarsat

Tankers, fishing vessels and bulk carriers were the three highest sectors for sending distress signals between 2018-2021, Inmarsat's The Future of Maritime Safety Report 2022 reveals.Among the findings from the Inmarsat data was an abrupt spike in GMDSS calls in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, which, according to the report, is likely to have been caused by “issues with crew change, rapid turnaround in ports and fatigue on board”.Peter Broadhurst, Senior Vice President of Safety and Security…

25 Nov 2021

Danish Frigate Kills Four Pirates in Gulf of Guinea

(Photo: Danish Defence)

A Danish frigate has killed four pirates in waters south of Nigeria in an operation to protect shipping in the Gulf of Guinea, the Danish military said on Thursday.The Esbern Snare, deployed last month to the Gulf of Guinea amid heightened security risks from pirates, on Wednesday spotted a fast-moving vessel carrying eight suspected pirates near a number of commercial ships, the Danish military said.The incident took place in international waters,25 to 30 nautical miles south of Nigeria's territorial boundary, a spokesman said.The motorboat, spotted by a helicopter deployed by the frigate, wa

25 Nov 2021

BIMCO Calls for Continued Naval Support in Gulf of Guinea After Piracy Incident

(Photo: Danish Defence)

Following the incident in the Gulf of Guinea on 24 November involving the Danish frigate Esben Snare and a suspected pirate vessel, BIMCO calls on all naval forces in the area to further increase the pressure on piracy groups and hopes a continued naval presence will act as a deterrent.According to the Danish Armed Forces, Danish frigate Esben Snare has been involved in an incident involving suspected pirates on 24 November in the waters south of Nigeria. The Danish navy further announced that the frigate was close enough to send a team to the suspected pirates with the aim to board…

23 Jul 2021

Ten Men Get 12 Years in Prison for Chinese Ship Hijacking

Credit: Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (File photo)

A court in Lagos sentenced 10 men to 12 years in prison on Friday for kidnapping the crew of a Chinese-flagged merchant vessel last year, the navy said, a verdict that officials hope will help tackle piracy in the waters off Nigeria's coast.Federal high court Justice Ayokunle Faji, who also fined each man 250,000 naira ($608) for each of the three counts for which they were charged, said their actions in kidnapping 18 crew from the FV HAILUFENG II in May 2020, were "an embarrassment…

08 Feb 2021

Nigeria's Navy to Toughen Punishment for Collusion with Kidnappers

A Nigerian boarding team during a simulated hijacking scenario (File photo: Luis R. Chavez Jr. / U.S. Navy)

Nigeria’s navy plans to strengthen its measures to root out and punish personnel who collude with kidnappers and criminals, its new naval chief said.Kidnappings in the Gulf of Guinea, which covers 2.3 million square kilometers and borders some 20 countries, hit a record last year, according to the International Maritime Bureau.Well-armed, violent pirates operate there out of Nigeria’s hard-to-police Delta swamps, and experts say their increasingly bold tactics show that better enforcement is badly needed.Rear Admiral A.Z.

02 Feb 2021

Pirates Flee After Failed Bulker Hijacking Off Nigeria

Eagle Bulk Shipping confirmed reports that one of its bulk carriers was hijacked in the Gulf of Guinea, and said the vessel and crew are safe now that the incident has been resolved. Maritime security groups had reported that the Marshall Islands-flagged Rowayton Eagle was boarded by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, and AIS tracking suggests the vessel had been adrift since January 27."As you may have read in the press, the M/V Rowayton Eagle was hijacked about 240 miles southeast of Lagos (Nigeria). We are very pleased to report that the incident has been resolved and our crew are safe and unharmed, and the vessel is fully operational," Eagle Bulk wrote in a social media post on Monday.

28 Jan 2021

Analyzing Attacks at Sea: It's Not All Piracy

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Pirate attacks against merchant ships off the African coast have been reported regularly over the past decade. And despite measures to suppress it, Somalia-based piracy remains a concern. On the other side of the continent, the Gulf of Guinea is now viewed as presenting a much more serious piracy problem.Last year a record 130 crew members were kidnapped in 22 separate incidents, according to the International Maritime Bureau. The cluster of attacks in November and December has…

25 Jan 2021

Why Are Pirates Attacking Ships in the Gulf of Guinea?

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Pirates are stepping up attacks on ships in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, defying regional navies. On Saturday, pirates off Nigeria kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish container ship and killed one.Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea kidnapped 130 seafarers in 22 separate incidents last year, accounting for all but five of those seized at sea worldwide.Who are the pirates and why are the attacking?The pirates come from Nigeria’s turbulent Niger Delta, experts say. The region produces the bulk of the nation’s petroleum…

25 Jan 2021

Nigeria: Pirates Kill One, Kidnap 15 Sailors from Turkish Cargo Ship


Image Credit: STOCKSTUDIO/AdobeStock

Pirates off Nigeria's coast kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish container ship in the Gulf of Guinea on Saturday in a brazen and violent attack that was farther from shore than usual.One sailor was killed in the raid, an Azerbaijani citizen, while those kidnapped are from Turkey, according to the respective governments and a crew list seen by Reuters.Accounts from crew, family members and security sources described a sophisticated and well-orchestrated attack on Saturday in which armed pirates boarded the ship and breached its protective citadel…

11 Nov 2020

Asian Piracy Is on the Rise

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Piracy and armed robbery against ships is on the rise in Asia, ReCAAP ISC reveals in its latest monthly report. In October, nine incidents of armed robbery against ships and no piracy incidents were reported in Asia. With these, the total number of incidents from January to October was 84, a 35% increase from 62 over the same period in 2019, and the most reported since 2016.ReCAAP ISC expressed concern over the overall increase of incidents in Asia, particularly regarding the continued occurrence of robberies and thefts in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes…

15 Oct 2020

Gulf of Guinea Kidnappings by Pirates Rise 40%

Illustration only - Pirates in Africa - Credit: U.S. Navy/Wikimedia

Kidnappings rose by 40% in the Gulf of Guinea in the first nine months of this year, and the region off West Africa's coast now accounts for 95% of global maritime kidnappings, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said on Wednesday.Eighty seafarers were taken in the Gulf of Guinea, a 2.3 million sq km (888,000 sq m) area bordering more than a dozen countries, sharply up from the same period in 2019, and the pirates are attacking further out to sea than before, the IMB said.Pirates…

23 Sep 2020

A Killing at Sea Implicates the Armed Forces in Lawless Venezuela

Around midnight on February 23, Eulalio Bravo, a marine electrician, was dozing in his rack aboard the San Ramon, an oil tanker anchored off the coast of Venezuela.Suddenly, he heard footsteps pounding along the passageway outside. His captain, Jaime Herrera, cried for help."Be still!" an unfamiliar voice ordered.A gun fired.By the time Bravo and eight other shipmates emerged to see what had happened, the captain lay dead, a gunshot in the back of his head. Herrera's stateroom had been pillaged, drawers flung open, his bunk overturned. The killers were gone, as were thousands of dollars the captain kept under lock and key, according to crew members interviewed by Reuters.The murder…

23 Aug 2020

Tanker Boarded by Somali Police is Safe and Underway

(Photo: EU NAVFOR)

A Panama-flagged ship boarded by Somali police is safe and underway, the EU Naval Force said on Saturday, after conflicting reports two days earlier about whether it had been hijacked by Somali pirates.The Aegean II had originally altered its course due to a damaged hull and after local police had boarded it, "there had been certain incidents on board the vessel", the EU force said in a statement."At this point, it cannot be classified as a maritime security incident, but a more detailed investigation is in progress…

21 Aug 2020

Somali Pirates Release Last of Hostages Captured in 2015

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Somali pirates have released three Iranian hostages held for five years, a maritime security official said on Thursday, as conflicting reports emerged whether another ship had been seized after a three-year hiatus in hijackings.The three Iranians are the last of the crew of the Iranian fishing vessel FV Siraj, which was captured by pirates on March 22, 2015.“This marks the end of an era of Somali piracy and the pain and suffering of Somalia’s forgotten hostages,” said John Steed…

20 Aug 2020

Somali Pirates Hijack Panama-flagged Tanker

A merchant ship has reportedly been hijacked off the northeast coast of Somalia, marking the first successful hijacking by Somali pirates since 2017.The Panama-flagged ship was en route from the United Arab Emirates to Mogadishu port when it appeared to develop mechanical problems, Reuters reports.The 112-meter chemical tanker Aegean II was said to be attacked by six armed pirates on Wednesday night, according to maritime security intelligence group Dryad Global, who described the incident as an "isolated and opportunistic piratical activity which seized on a vessel in a vulnerable situation".According to Dryad Global, the Aegean II slowed from its 6-knot cruising speed to 1 knot, giving pirates a "window of opportunity" to attack.

12 Aug 2020

Nigeria Convicts First Pirates Under New Maritime Law

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A Nigerian court made the first convictions under a new anti-piracy law, giving hope to the world's shipping fleets that legal reforms will help stem rising attacks in the Gulf of Guinea.The three men fined by the court in Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil hub, on Tuesday were among nine accused of hijacking the tanker MV Elobey VI off Equatorial Guinea in March and securing a $200,000 ransom for the crew.The merchant shipping industry has long pressed Nigeria to take action in the area…

07 Aug 2020

Nigeria: FPSO Workers Released after Kidnapping

Offshore workers kidnapped from an FPSO offshore Nigeria in an armed pirate attack in July, have been released, the owner of the floating production unit said Friday.In an incident that occurred on July 2, nine Nigerian crew members aboard the BW Offshore-owned Sendje Berge FPSO were kidnapped.BW Offshore said Friday the workers had been released."BW Offshore is very pleased that all of the offshore employees have been safely released.

15 Jul 2020

Crew Kidnappings Soar in West Africa

Crew kidnappings and violent attacks on vessels in the oil-rich West Africa region have soared in 2020, with 77 seafarers taken hostage or kidnapped for ransom since January, according to the ICC International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) latest piracy report.The Gulf of Guinea off West Africa is increasingly dangerous for commercial shipping, accounting for just over 90% of maritime kidnappings worldwide. Meanwhile, ship hijackings are at their lowest since 1993, the report said.“Violence against crews is a growing risk in a workforce already under immense pressure,” says IMB Director Michael Howlett. “In the Gulf of Guinea attackers armed with knives and guns now target crews on every type of vessel.

24 Jul 2020

Asian Piracy Incidents Double in H1 2020

Of the 51 piracy incidents reported through the first six months of 2020, 31 (61%) occurred to ships at anchor/berth and 20 (39%) to ships underway. (© hit1912 / Adobe Stock)

The number of reported attacks against ships has doubled in Asia over the first half of 2020, elevating security concerns for mariners across the region.A total of 51 cases of piracy and armed robbery against ships (including 50 actual incidents and one attempted incident) were reported in Asia from January through June 2020, up from 28 incidents (25 actual and three attempted) during the same period for 2019, according to ReCAAP Information Sharing Center's (ISC) latest half-yearly report.A growing number of attacks occurred in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes…

20 Jul 2020

Crew Kidnapped from Tanker in the Gulf of Guinea

Armed pirates have reportedly kidnapped 13 seafarers from a Liberian-flagged product tanker in the Gulf of Guinea off West Africa, continuing a rise in attacks on vessels in the world's most dangerous piracy hot spot.The Curcacao Trader was approached by eight armed individuals aboard a single speedboat and boarded 232 nautical miles southwest of Lagos, Friday. Among those abducted are seven Russian nationals, according to the Russian embassy in Nigeria. The other five crew members taken from the ship are believed to be Ukranian.The 116.5-meter vessel had been sailing south after departing the port of Lomé, Togo when her speed dropped to 3 knots at the indicated time of attack, according to maritime security intelligence group Dryad Global.