IMO pushes Code of Conduct in West Africa to tackle piracy

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has thrown its weight behind a new Code of Conduct aimed at “the prevention and repression of piracy, armed robbery against ships and illicit maritime activity in west and central Africa.” An IMO statement say that the Code will be opened for signature in May this year, when a meeting of the Heads of State and Government of Central and West African States is scheduled in Cameroon. 

IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu said, in connection, “IMO has been working for a number of years with international development partners on a number of activities aimed at enhancing the ability of individual States in the region, and the wider sub-region, to build a sustainable maritime capacity and we look forward to continuing to work with them to support the implementation of this Code and to work together to repress piracy, armed robbery against ships and other illicit maritime activity off the coasts of west and central Africa.” 

“We look forward to continuing to work with the countries to assist in the implementation of this new Code,” he added. 

Developed in the aftermath of UN resolutions in 2011 and 2012, the Code was developed by ECOWAS, the Economic Community of Central African States.  It is meant to put in place a broad based strategy to tackle the growing menace of piracy and armed robbery in the region, and will, with the support to the IMO, mean that countries can share information, coordinate operational and jurisdictional issues, pursue prosecution of apprehended suspects- and facilitate proper care, treatment and repatriation of seafarers and others, ‘particularly those who have been subjected to violence’.

The IMO has been involved in a series of “table top exercises” in the region since last year, meant to help coordinate maritime security and maritime law enforcement issues between States in the region.  Started with an exercise held in Ghana, this IMO initiative was seen later in Equatorial Guinea, the Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone. On the anvil are further exercises scheduled for Côte d’Ivoire, the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Senegal. The IMO is also supporting the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) and the Government of Ghana to develop the Maritime Trade Information Sharing Centre (MTISC) in Ghana.  This will “receive and promulgate information from and to merchant shipping operating in the area in order to assist them to develop situational awareness”, the IMO says.

Signatories to the new Code “intend to co-operate to the fullest possible extent in the prevention and repression of piracy and armed robbery against ships, transnational organised crime in the maritime domain, maritime terrorism, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and other illegal activities at sea,” it reiterates.

Analysts say that the Code is well meaning, but some countries in the region will nevertheless have to do much more if the Code is to succeed in repressing West African piracy. Some say that the Code is more a response to recent incidents involving terrorists on the ground in West Africa rather than piracy in the water. They also point out that the Code is fashioned on the older Djibouti Code of Conduct that was developed with IMO assistance for the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden area, and which was somewhat less than successful in the end.

Five Indian crew taken hostage from tanker off Nigeria

Close on the heels of the kidnap of four foreigners working at a construction site onshore- believed to be South Koreans working for Hyundai construction- heavily armed pirates have ransacked a tanker in the Niger Delta and kidnapped five Indians from amongst its crew. Media reports say that Medallion Marine of Mumbai has confirmed that the 7,654 DWT product tanker SP Brussels was attacked on 17 December about 40 miles off the Niger Delta. The ship was ransacked before the crew were taken ashore. Medallion is a ship management company that sourced the crew aboard the ill-fated tanker.

The SP Brussels is reported to be safe in Lagos with the remaining crew. “Everything possible is being done to ensure the safe return of those crew members taken from the vessel,” Medallion said in a statement. “Nigerian naval vessels are assisting with this process.”  

In the absence of pirate ‘safe havens’ where hijacked vessels can be taken, pirates in the region usually loot the ships they board and steal its cargo. There are also reports of rising violence against crew, an increasing number of whom are being taken as hostages to be released after a ransom is paid. A week earlier in the same area, a fire-fight between gunmen and armed private security guards on the offshore support vessel PM Salem ended with one security guard dead, killed by pirate machine gun fire, and another two wounded. Security experts say that the same pirate group could be behind this spate of recent attacks.

Nigerian officials have declined to comment on the incident so far, but it is an open secret that foreign companies operating in Nigeria's troubled oil rich Niger Delta- an area the size of Portugal- often pay ransom to free kidnapped employees. The taking of foreigners for ransom, a crime hitherto confined mainly to land, has expanded in recent times to include maritime kidnapping. About two months ago, seven seafarers- six Russians and an Estonian- were kidnapped from aboard a ship belonging to a French company; they were later released presumably after a ransom had been paid. 

Maritime security experts AKE say that the risks of maritime kidnapping are now high off the Niger Delta.  The West African country ranks in the top ten countries that export crude oil. It also imports more than three quarters of its fuel requirements, thanks to the fact that it has a woefully inadequate refining capacity at home. It also has, in the Niger Delta, appalling poverty that, combined with powerful and shadowy figures in Nigeria, fuels this kind of crime.

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With attack off Ivory Coast, Nigerian pirate kill zone moves west

The recent attack on an oil tanker off Ivory Coast underlines what many are saying- that Nigerian pirates are getting bolder in the face of the international community’s greater focus on Somali piracy and that piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is as dangerous a threat to shipping and mariners.

The attack on a Panamax tanker on October 6 was a first- and furthest. The vessel was anchored off Abidjan for a ship to ship operation when more than a dozen men armed with AK47s boarded and hijacked it. The vessel was forced to leave Abidjan and sail through waters controlled by Ghana, Togo and Benin; she was taken into Nigerian waters. The tanker was finally released on October 9, but not before about 2500 MT of gas oil had been stolen by the pirates; she was carrying a total of about 30,000 MT. Fortunately, none of the 24 crew- Filipinos and Greeks- were injured, although the vessel’s communication system was trashed by the pirates. 

The spread of piracy coupled with the rise of Islamic terrorism in Nigeria is now beginning to alarm more than a few analysts. The malaise has spread far beyond Nigerian waters; about 20 tankers were attacked last year off Benin, Nigeria’s western neighbour. Togo has seen a dozen attacks on anchored vessels off its coast this year after Benin and Nigerian navies took action in their waters; pirates simply moved west. And now, the waters off the Ivory Coast are becoming dangerous.

Operators have been moving their STS operations westwards in response to the spreading menace. 

It seems, however, that the pirates are unfazed and not hesitant about operating far from their bases in Nigeria. What is worrying the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting centre, according to a recent report, is that the attack off the Ivory Coast represents a “potential game changer”; it is the furthest the pirates have struck from their bases so far. Masters and owners too, will have to rethink their planned STS operation locations immediately. 

The IMB is also concerned about the fact that these attacks are specific. They target product tankers, and these attacks are not opportunistic. It follows that the criminals are getting their intelligence from somewhere, and are well organised with logistical support, so that they can pump out the cargo- usually gas oil- into smaller barges or tankers and then disappear. 

There may be some parallels here with Somalia. “The gangs have access to ship movement intelligence along with a substantial network, personnel and expensive physical assets. These are well organised and resourced criminals. If the law enforcement agencies of the coastal countries in the Gulf of Guinea do not take determined action to arrest and prosecute them, they may find they have a growing criminal phenomenon taking root in coastal communities which they are unable to bring easily under control,” says an IMB report published a few days ago.  

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IBF declares Benin and Nigerian waters 'high risk' for piracy

Crew to get same benefits as in 'Somali' HRA

In response to the increasingly violent attacks on crews in the territorial waters of Nigeria and Benin in West Africa, the IBF (International Bargaining Forum) has declared those areas 'High Risk Areas' (HRA) for piracy. The decision will come into effect on April 1 and will give seafarers the same benefits in these waters as they get in the HRA off Somalia, including a doubling of basic wages and death or disability compensation, the need for enhanced security measures, advance notice of intent to enter the area and the right to refuse to enter it.

The IBF is a forum for discussion between the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and its member unions, and the maritime employers in the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG). Although the HRA decision pertains to ships that operate under an IBF agreement, the ITF is considering adopting these to non-IBF agreements as well, reports say.


The decision has come, the IBF says, as it is "increasingly concerned about the deteriorating situation in respect of security of crews employed on IBF vessels in the Gulf of Guinea. Specifically, available reports of attacks leading to forceful seizure of cargo and kidnapping of crewmembers have been considered at length. The increase in the number of attacks and the violent tactics of hostage taking applied by armed gangs have been found disturbing, particularly in the waters and ports of Nigeria and Benin. The necessity of an adequate response to the situation has become clear in an effort to bring greater security and guarantees to seafarers serving on IBF ships in the area".


Besides establishing coordinates for the West African HRA, the IBF has included "the territorial waters of Benin and Nigeria, including ports, terminals and roads anchorages, the delta of the Niger river, other inland waterways and port facilities, except only when the vessel is attached securely to a berth or SBM facility in a guarded port area". When ships are within the HRA, their crews will be entitled- in addition to adequate protection, advice and compensations already mentioned- to the advantages of Best Management Practices, sufficient notice of owners' intent to enter the HRA, repatriation at owner's cost at seafarer's request and support to seafarer families if a vessel is attacked.


It must be pointed out that, although the declaration of the new HRA was inevitable, there is a different dimension to piracy in the Gulf of Guinea when compared with that off Somalia: the former does not involve hijacking of ships for long periods because there are no safe havens for pirates off West Africa. Instead, pirates attack, loot valuables and cargo and take crews hostage for ransom. Some seafarers have been killed in the violence during the attacks; the GOG pirates seem much more trigger-happy.


Another worrying aspect of the GOG HRA for owners is this: Many vessels will stay for a much longer time within the GOG HRA than that off Somalia, where ships remain in the HRA for days, not weeks or even months as in the GOG. This is bound to escalate costs for all parties involved.

West African pirates- following Somali footsteps?

The UN Security Council this week voiced concern over increasing incidents of maritime piracy, armed robbery and reports of hostage-taking in the Gulf of Guinea, and called on the international community for help. The industry must be feeling a keen sense of déjà vu, also because pirates off the West coast of Africa seem to be copying the Somali pirates that had expanded operations from off their coast to waters much further afield. Recent developments indicate that Nigerian pirate gangs are similarly moving into the territorial waters of neighbouring countries in response to stricter Nigerian policing at home.

We had reported earlier that the coast of Benin had seen a marked escalation in pirate attacks this year as mainly Nigerian armed gangs raided ships to steal fuel, personal effects and stores. It is now reported by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) that attacks may be on the rise off Cameroon to the South, in part because the Nigerian military has unleashed a crackdown on gangs operating in its own waters. "We believe that this is happening because the Nigerian navy and coastguard has clamped down heavily on piracy in their waters, forcing the pirates to move elsewhere," says IMB’s Cyrus Mody. The Nigerian Joint Task Force is believed to have arrested thirty suspected pirates in the last month. There have been 19 pirate attacks off Benin this year, compared with none in 2010. Direct fallout: neighbouring Ghana says it is beefing up its own coastal security apparatus in response to spreading piracy.

Nonetheless, recent attacks on ships further afield- including at least one incident where the crew were held hostage- point to a worrisome trend in the Gulf of Guinea, an area rich in oil and a busy trading zone. The Cyprus-flagged Mattheus I was hijacked 60 nautical miles off the coast of Benin less than two weeks ago. The success of their brethren on Africa’s east coast is encouraging to these gangs, no doubt. "While Somalis are not coming to Nigeria with franchise kits, Nigerians do have smartphones and so can surf the Web and keep an eye on what the Somalis and other pirates are doing and incorporate inspired changes," Michael Frodl of U.S.-based consultancy C-LEVEL Maritime Risks told Reuters. "All this represents a growing menace to shipping off Nigeria, Benin, and other West African nations."

Insurers have already added Benin to their lists of high-risk areas, but analysts say that it is just a matter of time before the entire Gulf of Guinea region, rich in oil, minerals and other commodities, becomes widely perceived as an area hazardous to ships and crews in transit.

Many analysts see events in the Gulf of Guinea mirroring those in Somalia over time. Frodl says that pirates are moving offshore not just to avoid coastal patrols "but also to take advantage of ships letting down their guard in waters assumed to be safer. The attacks off Benin represent the same sort of pivot we saw from the Somalis when the more ambitious and capable pirates shunned the Gulf of Aden a couple of years ago for the Somali Basin," he said.

Most Gulf of Guinea pirates have not sought to hijack vessels so far, being apparently content with just loot and robbery. However, with unconfirmed reports suggesting that there have already been cases of West African pirates being paid small ransoms to release crews, the writing- as it was in Somalia for a long time- seems to be well and truly on the wall.