Gulf of Guinea pirate attacks

Brussels 26.04.2021 Two successive attacks on commercial vessels have just taken place in the Gulf of Guinea.
On Friday (April 23), a container ship was attacked 130 nautical miles northwest of the island of Sao Tome (1 ° 27 North and 4 ° 38 East). The pirates were able to board the Contship New, which was en route from Port Owendo in Gabon to Lomé, Togo.

PIRACY in Gulf of Guinea (GOG) : Report of Pirate attack on a Container Ship positioned at 01° 29N – 004° 38E, 185nm SW in Nigeria Territorial Waters area of Bayelsa State about 1600hrs of today.
Crew were able to hide at the citadel as at the time of the attack. pic.twitter.com/x08jfMIjG9

— Eons Intelligence (@eonsintelligenc) April 23, 2021

A few hours later, Saturday (April 24), at 2:23 UTC, another attack took place in the same area (1 ° 52 North and 3 ° 17 East). The ship was secured “taken care of and escorted”, we are assured at Gulf of Guinea HQ in Brest (MDAT-GOG).

Greek domiciled container vessel 'CONTSHIP NEW' (IMO: 9373905) reportedly boarded and attacked 185 nautical miles South West of Bayelsa State (Nigeria). #gulfofguinea #piracy @GlobalDryad https://t.co/uWO4efgG7D

— Vessel Protect (@vesselprotect) April 23, 2021

The Gulf of Guinea accounted for nearly half (43%) of all reported piracy incidents in the first three months of 2021, according to the latest figures from the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

IMB’s latest global piracy report records 38 incidents since the start of 2021 – compared with 47 incidents during the same period last year. In the first three months of 2021, the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) reported 33 vessels boarded, two attempted attacks, two vessels fired upon, and one vessel hijacked.

Despite a drop in the number of reported piracy incidents for Q1 2021, violence against crew is on the rise in comparison to previous years. Since the start of 2021, 40 crew have been kidnapped compared to 22 crew in Q1 2020. A crew member was also killed in Q1 2021. .