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24 Jun 2019 / Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria

Piracy meeting calls for urgent action

A high-level meeting on piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea has shone the spotlight on the need for urgent action to ensure the safety and security of seafarers transiting the region.

The symposium, held at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) head office in London, was attended by the shipping community, Flag States, seafarer groups and maritime agencies, including International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

Discussion were animated, but all gathered were in consensus as to the outcome, which is to identify actions that will reduce the risks posed to seafarers and shipping, and to make crew kidnappings ‘history’. This was made clear in a joint statement released after the meeting…

…The latest quarterly piracy report published by IMB shows that in the first quarter of 2019, the Gulf of Guinea accounted for all of the worldwide crew kidnappings; 21 crew members were kidnapped across five separate incidents. Incidents were reported in the coastal countries of Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo.

But IMB’s statistics also show that whilst Nigeria has been a hotspot for piracy incidents over the past decade, the country experienced a decrease in reported piracy incidents during the first quarter of 2019 - 14 incidents of piracy for Q1 2019, compared to 22 incidents in the same quarter last year…

…Speakers at the London meeting further emphasised the region was starting to build capacity and joint cooperation to fight maritime crime through the Yaoundé Process, which focuses on joint cooperation across the region for reporting and response. The international community is also sponsoring long-term capacity building and partnerships.

Attendees were encouraged to hear about recent Spanish Navy action to assist Equatorial Guinea to rescue seafarers from a piracy attack last month, as well as the new US program to embark law enforcement officers on regional vessels.

IMB said that while all these initiatives are positive, they may take time to mature, and in the interim, solutions were needed to ensure the safety and security of seafarers.

(For information about operations in Nigeria contact GAC Nigeria at [email protected])

Source: Extracts from International Maritime Bureau (www.icc-ccs.org) news release issued 18 June 2019

If quoting any content from Hot Port News, please cite GAC Hot Port News as the source.

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