Maritime Security Updates Archive

20th November 2020
Maritime piracy is and has always been a crime with a severe detrimental impact on both the shipping industry and global economy, and, most importantly, in human lives lost, injured or psychologically traumatised.

11th November 2020
The recent flurry of incidents within the Gulf of Guinea has increased the risk profile to a unique and exceptional level. The risk profile for all maritime operations within the Gulf of Guinea at this time is CRITICAL (incidents are highly likely, expected daily).

4th November 2020
Maritime activities are an important aspect of the modern militant’s portfolio. Though there are technical and logistical barriers to entry, coastal and oceanic waters offer militants opportunities for both operational and financial gain.

21st October 2020
As the dry season approaches and sea conditions abate, an increase in attacks has traditionally been seen, so maritime security risks to vessels operating in the Gulf of Guinea require renewed attention. Masters and crews need to be extra vigilant and ensure all security measures are taken.

20th October 2020
On 5 October 2020, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) issued a notice warning its clients and other stakeholders that the Nigerian Navy will investigate, and has arrested, ships that switch off their automatic identification system (AIS) when operating in Nigerian waters.

19th October 2020
An LNG carrier has been boarded and attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, resulting in the kidnapping of one crew member.

14th October 2020
The number of seafarers kidnapped by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea has surged so far this year as pirates abduct bigger groups of seafarers further offshore, the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reported Centre revealed today.

13th October 2020
Violent extremist groups operating in East Africa such as al-Shabaab, Ansar al-Sunna and the Islamic State in East Africa Somalia (IS-Somalia) are increasingly making use of gaps in maritime security.

3rd September 2020
The IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre recorded 98 incidents of piracy and armed robbery in the first half of 2020, up from 78 in the first half of 2019.

12th August 2020
The Federal High Court Port Harcourt yesterday convicted three of the nine accused of hijacking an Equatorial Guinea flagged vessel, MV ELOBEY VI off Equatorial Guinea coast during March this year.

6th August 2020
The disaster puts a spotlight on the global trade in hazardous materials and the importance of port security

4th August 2020
The Yaoundé Code of Conduct was signed in 2013 by 25 countries in West and Central Africa. It provides the structure for joint operations, intelligence sharing and harmonized legal frameworks.

31st July 2020
Addressing the Gulf of Guinea’s challenges is a significant task, while ocean governance is a daunting issue which demands an interdisciplinary approach and innovative solutions.

24th July 2020
To govern maritime piracy through state cooperation, three agreements have been set up in different regions of the world. The members to these regional agreements agree to arrest, investigate, and prosecute pirates on the high seas, and to suppress armed robbery in their respective territorial waters.

15th July 2020
International Commercial Crime services on 15 July 2020 said violent attacks against ships and their crews have risen in 2020, with 77 seafarers taken hostage or kidnapped for ransom since January, reveals the ICC International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) latest piracy report.

13th July 2020
Piracy/Armed Robbery/Kidnapping for Ransom (KFR) continues to serve as a significant threat to U.S. flagged operators with vessels transiting or operating in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG).

6th July 2020
The authorities could do more to make Nigerian waters safe

26th June 2020
Six incidents were reported across the whole of 2019, yet by the midway of 2020, there have been eight incidents reported within the Gulf of Aden alone.

22nd June 2020
Aiming to rid Nigeria’s waterways of criminalities and reassure the global community that it is getting on top of the security issues in its maritime domain, the country will this week commence the prosecution of suspected pirates under the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences Act.

9th June 2020
The potential for high profits, along with high unemployment along the coast, weak security and a lack of judicial enforcement of maritime laws in many West African countries, makes the Gulf of Guinea especially attractive for pirates and other criminals.

9th June 2020
A virtual meeting of the Steering Committee of the revised Djibouti Code of Conduct was held on 9 June 2020 to discuss ways of continuing to enhance regional maritime security efforts amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

28th May 2020
The Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC) expressed "growing frustration at the ineffectiveness of the international community" in solving the longstanding problem of piracy and maritime kidnapping in the Gulf of Guinea.

18th May 2020
The first three months of 2020 have seen a 24% increase in pirate attacks and attempted attacks, over the same period in 2019. As a scholar of sea piracy, I worry that the coronavirus pandemic may make piracy even more of a problem in the coming months and years.

22nd April 2020
Pirates have demonstrated their ability to revise their modes of operation in response to maritime industry behavior and the responses of coastal states. When looking the Gulf of Guinea, confirmed as the main world maritime piracy hotspot for almost five years, it’s interesting to consider that evolution.

14th April 2020
Seafarers face continuing threats from pirates and armed robbers on the world’s seas, says the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB), reporting 47 attacks in the first three months of 2020, up from 38 in the same period last year. Pirates boarded 37 ships in the first quarter of 2020.

3rd April 2020
The Malta Merchant Shipping Directorate wishes to bring to the attention of all concerned the new publication for maritime security guidance for ships and seafarers operating off the coast of West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, replacing the previous guidelines for the area.

16th March 2020
There seems a never-ending list of consequences to climate change or the global response to it, but here’s another one to add: piracy.

24th February 2020
The Nigerian Federal Government has embarked on measures to ensure a smooth enforcement of the newly enacted anti-piracy law as part of efforts to stem criminality on Nigerian waters.

5th February 2020
The departing CEO of international ship owning organisation BIMCO has hit out at Nigerian authorities’ complete failure to rein in the horrendous piracy situation in West Africa as well as the tacit complicity of oil majors not to speak out on the matter.

21st January 2020
Time is no longer on the side of the pirates as they expect to be detected quickly after an abduction. What is more, many attacks are being repelled. The obvious answer for the pirates to those two problems is to maximise returns by abducting more people in one go.

15th January 2020
Despite overall piracy incidents declining in 2019, there was an alarming increase in crew kidnappings across the Gulf of Guinea the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) said in its annual piracy report.

27th December 2019
The cost of maritime piracy in West Africa was more than $800m in 2017 accoring to Oceans Beyond Piracy

16th December 2019
Kenya and Djibouti, two states directly affected by piracy, achieved widespread reform of their domestic maritime sectors through new national initiatives and assistance from external partners.

27th November 2019
The Joint Maritime Information and Coordination Centre (JMICC) is working hard to achieve the status of Initial Operational Capability by the end of 2020.

18th November 2019
Demands by the shipping industry for international navies to become more involved in counter-piracy operations won’t lead to lasting solutions. These can only be successful if they are designed based on regional requirements and take on board regional initiatives aimed at tackling a multiplicity of social problems, rather than just one.

21st October 2019
On the morning of 20 October 2019, EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation ATALANTA received a request to assist a vessel belonging to the Somali Navy in distress some 60 km north of Cadale.

18th October 2019
The Nigerian Navy recently intercepted a small craft and arrested its occupants for a criminal offense: providing security services to a merchant ship.

27th September 2019
EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia was launched on 22 June 2015 and it is part of the EU’s comprehensive approach to migration.

17th September 2019
Global maritime security conference to advance international cooperation for a safe, secure and sustainable ocean economy to be held in Nigeria from 7 to 9 October 2019

17th September 2019
The M/T MAXIMUS and the M/T ANUKET AMBER are vessels that have tested the cooperative architecture for maritime security in West and Central Africa.

9th September 2019
South Africa has toughened its stowaway policy and no stowaways will be permitted to be landed in South Africa.

18th August 2019
Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Tanzania have agreed to address rising security threats facing the region, including terrorism, said a communique issued on Sunday.

10th August 2019
A dispute over the “premature” release of convicted pirates by Somaliland authorities may reach the UN Security Council, after a protest by the Seychelles.

10th July 2019
MDAT – GoG reports are primarily based upon information sent by vessels using the Voluntary Reporting Scheme.

1st July 2019
Regional conflict and piracy threats continue to pose potential risks to commercial vessels operating in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Indian Ocean

25th June 2019
The International Maritime Organization warns that alerts being issued from the email account of the Regional Maritime Information Sharing Centre (REMISC) in Sana’a, Yemen (infoex@remisc.org) are not legitimate.

12th June 2019
The Swedish Club has released a case study of stowaways in the steering gear trunk of a container vessel that departed from Lagos

7th June 2019
Directorate General of Shipping in India has banned Indian seafarers from working in vessels in Nigerian waters and the Gulf of Guinea, as piracy and kidnapping incidents increase.

27th May 2019
A fresh annual report from the International Maritime Bureau shows that attacks in West Africa helped push piracy numbers up in 2018. In terms of military and law enforcement, an international operation is not complicated, so what is needed above all is the will to act.

19th May 2019
A new report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reveals that Nigeria and other countries in the Gulf of Guinea lost US$777.1 million to piracy and other maritime crimes.