Piracy Incident Report: Ivory Coast

 

 

 

Piracy Incident Report: 441

 Incident Type: Attemted Boarding
Area: Ivory Coast
Position: At Anchor Abidjan, Cote d'ivoire
Date of Incident: 22.05.2015 Reported Late
Time of Incident (LT):0135
Information Source: : : MTISC-GOG

On the 22nd May 2015, a vessel at anchor reported that 2 armed robbers in a wooden boat used by local fishermen approached their vessel. One of the robbers attempted to board the vessel however they were deterred by the sound of the vessels alarm and whistle which was activated by the AB who sighted the robbers. They immediately escaped and nothing was stolen on board.

Allmode Comment

As seen within this report, the majority of attacks against vessels will occur whilst the vessel is at anchor and will commonly take place during the hours of darkness. This particular location has seen a number of boarding incidents occur during 2015, and although the port employs security personnel, the guards are reluctant to intervene should an incident occur due to fear of repercussions from the local gangs. Companies, CSO’s and Masters should evaluate the effectiveness of the controls already in place to prevent the illegal boarding, and taking control of a vessel and a full Risk Assessment should be conducted prior to any voyage to ascertain the likelihood of an incident occurring. For further advice on intelligence, passage planning and crew training contact Allmode at info@allmode.org

 

Piracy Incident Report 325

Incident Type: Suspicious Approach Around 70nm SSE of Abidjan, Ivory Coast

During bunker operations, an offshore supply vessel noticed a skiff with eight persons on board approaching at high speed. The bunkering vessels raised the alarm, carried out an emergency disconnection and moved away at full speed. Seeing the vessels actions, the skiff aborted the approach. All crew are safe. Allmode Comment: Attacks against bunker vessels within the region are common. Vessels are most vulnerable when static during ship to ship bunkering operations. In this incident it is clear that by having a vigilant watch system has prevented the vessel being boarded and potentially hijacked.