Robbery - Ciudad del Carmen

Incident Overview

Reporting indicates that a number of armed criminals arrived via small skiff-type vessels at an equipment yard, which is used by the Mexican state-owned petroleum company, Pemex. The equipment yard is situated in the city of Ciudad del Carmen, which is in Mexico's South-East. During the incident, workers at the facility are also believed to have been robbed. 

Dryad Analysis

Within 2020 there has been a significant increase in maritime crime and piracy in the waters offshore the Campeche, Tabasco and Veracruz states. Armed criminal groups have been reported to target and rob commercial vessels, oil platforms, and offshore supply vessels in the Bay of Campeche area in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The US Maritime Administration has recently issued an advisory, 2020-008-Southern Gulf of Mexico-Vessel Attacks, detailing such events, and actions to be taken in the event of piracy and armed robbery incidents in the region.


Reporting indicates that 20 fishing vessels and 35 oil platforms and offshore supply vessels that have been targeted since January 2018 in the Bay of Campeche area of the southern Gulf of Mexico. It is assessed that despite the increase in reporting, there is assessed to be a significant degree of under reporting concerning incidents not involving attacks against large commercial vessels. Attacks recorded to date have involved the discharge of firearms, crew injuries, hostage taking, and theft. At least five of these attacks occurred in April 2020.

This attack, whilst of a lower impact than recent attacks reported in the region, is never the less part of the 'background noise' of low-level maritime crime which is occurring.