Reporting indicates that when sailing from Lome to Bata, the Maltese flagged, containership PORT GDYNIA (9526459) was approached and boarded by an unknown number of attackers.
Boarding
DTG
21 December 2020, 0409 UTC
Position
02° 37N 005° 37E
Location
95nm South of Brass
Vessel Dimensions
220.23 x 32.24 m
Vessel Type
Container Ship
Source Confidence Level
High
Incident Overview
Reporting indicates that when sailing from Lome to Bata, the Maltese flagged, containership PORT GDYNIA (9526459) was approached and boarded by an unknown number of attackers.
Details regarding the welfare of the crew remain unknown at this time.
All vessels are reminded that the risk profile for the wider JWC-025 GoG HRA is CRITICAL, indicating that attacks are highly likely, expected daily.
Dryad Analysis
There have been a surge of incidents in the past 5 weeks, resulting in an increased risk rating for the Gulf of Guinea HRA to CRITICAL on 11th November. The increase in risk profile was further underpinned by the release of an imminent attack warning by MDAT-GoG covering the waters of ECOWAS Areas F,E,D.
Vessels are advised to operate within this area at a heightened posture maintaining the highest levels of vigilance whilst implementing full hardening / mitigation in accordance with BMP West Africa where possible. In addition the IMB advises that vessels remain at least 200nm-250nm offshore where possible.