• 2021 April 29 15:14

    Nigeria and ICC announce ground-breaking antipiracy forum

    In an unprecedented move, Nigeria and the Interregional Coordination Centre for the Implementation of Regional Strategy for Maritime Safety and Security in Central and West Africa (ICC) have announced the formation of a Maritime Collaboration Forum to provide shared awareness and deconfliction of activities in the Gulf of Guinea (GOG-MCF/SHADE). The forum is for all stakeholders, both regional and international, according to BIMCO's release.

    The announcement comes at a time when pirates continue to wreak havoc in the busy waters of Gulf of Guinea at distances more than 200 nautical miles from Nigeria. The situation has led several EU countries including France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and Denmark to announce an interest in contributing to maritime security in the region to suppress the threat posed by Nigerian pirates. Recently the Italian Navy has, on more than one occasion, disrupted pirate attacks and the Danish government has committed to send a frigate on a five-month antipiracy patrol in the Gulf of Guinea from November 2021.

    The SHADE model has already demonstrated its worth as a model for exchange of information between regional and non-regional military forces in countering the Somali piracy threat.

    ”The establishment of GOG-MCF/SHADE will enable working-level stakeholders from the GoG region and from outside the region to connect and discuss how best to suppress Nigerian piracy. We think this can be a catalyst for non-regional navies to step up and initiate effective maritime law enforcement operations to support regional efforts. Such operations should of course respect Nigeria’s sovereign rights as defined under UNCLOS; in respect of piracy, this is within Nigeria’s territorial waters,” says David Loosley, Secretary General and CEO of BIMCO.

    According to Jakob Larsen, BIMCO’s Head of Maritime Safety & Security, even relatively small initiatives could make a big difference in improving security in the region.

    “We repeat our call for non-regional stakeholders to actively engage in antipiracy law enforcement in the Gulf of Guinea in support of this important regional initiative. The area in the Gulf of Guinea where pirates operate is small compared to the area dominated by Somali pirates a few years ago. It would only take a small, effective force (estimated two frigates and one maritime patrol aircraft) to provide a credible deterrent as well as an enhanced response capability,” Larsen says.

    In the past, BIMCO and other stakeholders have raised concerns certain Nigerian stakeholders have so far not fully committed to the fight against piracy because of the significant moneys flowing from the booming commercial asset protection industry. Commenting on the risk of the GOG-MCF/SHADE becoming just an instrument to restrict international navies’ antipiracy operations and further bolstering the Nigerian protection industry, Larsen says:

    “At BIMCO we are confident this initiative really is a paradigm shift in Nigeria’s approach to piracy, but of course the proof is in the pudding. I must say, we are very optimistic.”

    “The GOG-MCF/SHADE has great potential and will hopefully also stimulate new solutions like embarkation of law enforcement officials from the GoG region in non-regional naval ships, establishment of mechanisms for handover to regional jurisdictions of suspected pirates, utilisation of available radar data from offshore installations, and so on. There are so many low-hanging fruits just waiting to be picked,” says Larsen.


2024 April 18

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17:18 Cepsa and Evos join up for green methanol storage in Spain and the Netherlands
16:48 ClassNK commences joint research project with JAXA on material compatibility evaluation methods for liquefied oxygen
16:24 Panama Canal announces new measures regarding number of transits and maximum draft
15:50 Kongsberg Maritime secures contract to supply propeller systems to Damen Naval for four Anti-Submarine Warfare frigates
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13:23 DP World launches a new Air Tracking feature to its SeaRates platform
12:31 Port of Los Angeles container volume increases 19% to 743,417 TEU in March 2024
12:16 MABUX: Bunker Outlook, Week 16, 2024
12:11 Coastal Sustainability Alliance boosts development and adoption of maritime biofuel in Singapore
11:43 Ocean Network Express launches reduced emissions shipping service
11:23 Wartsila cargo handling and fuel gas supply systems selected for three new Very Large Ethane Gas Carriers
10:45 Singapore plans production of biofuel blends up to B50 in grade
10:25 Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and International Energy Agency сollaborate on maritime energy transition

2024 April 17

18:03 Australia and Singapore partner in a $20 million initiative to help reduce emissions in the maritime sector
17:38 EPS strengthens green collaboration with MPA with six Singapore-registered ammonia dual-fuel newbuilds
17:03 HD Hyundai, Scottish firms to cooperate on offshore wind power
16:16 Hanwha Ocean wins 176.4 bln-won order for 1 LPG carrier
15:46 Maritime Book and Claim System advances pilot study to support first movers in zero-emissions shipping
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12:11 Eureka Shipping announces construction of new cement carrier for Great Lakes trade
11:32 MOL to adopt new system to increase capacity and improve operational efficiency of car carriers
11:12 GTT receives an order for the tank design of eight new LNG carriers
10:43 Thailand's Department of Marine and Coastal Resources takes delivery of a new research vessel
10:27 The United States exported a record volume of natural gas in 2023
09:58 TECO 2030 raises NOK 43 million and partners up with Advait in India

2024 April 16

18:04 HD KSOE attains 73% of annual order target in 100 days
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17:06 Navig8 takes delivery of the second of six newbuild MRs with emission reducing technology
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16:12 World’s largest car carriers ordered with MAN Energy Solutions propulsion package
15:46 Hapag-Lloyd and Seaspan to retrofit five vessels to methanol propulsion
14:13 Asyad Shipping and OQ8 successfully complete first-of-its-kind blended crude oil delivery from Mina Al Fahal to Duqm Refinery
13:54 Hapag-Lloyd unveils its new Strategy 2030
13:14 Singapore aims for over 1 mln tons of low-carbon methanol bunker supply by 2030
12:43 Trafigura to commercially deploy Daphne Technology’s PureMetrics on LNG carrier for precise MRV and optimisation of GHG emissions
12:15 All 12 people rescued from fire on board Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship in Singapore waters
11:49 Drydocks World steel cutting ceremony marks start of UK Norfolk Vanguard Offshore Wind Platforms project
11:23 North Pacific Green Corridor Consortium aims to decarbonize transportation corridor between Canada, Japan and South Korea
10:48 Wartsila offers new high-performance thruster and propulsion control solution package
10:25 Port of Long Beach container volume up 8.3% to 654,082 TEUs in March 2024
09:58 Kalypso Offshore Energy signs LOI with Royal IHC

2024 April 15

18:04 Container shipping costs of S. Korea-EU route surge 40 pct amid Red Sea crisis
17:21 HMM to expand container ship fleet by 2030
17:09 Singapore retains its position as the world's leading maritime city
16:47 Iran says MSC Aries vessel seized for 'violating maritime laws'
16:24 ICTSI gets PPA OK to operate Iloilo Port
15:21 DEME’s offshore installation vessel ‘Orion’ successfully completes the near 15 MW turbine foundation installation project in Scotland and heads to US
14:55 Meriaura orders two biofuel powered 6750 DWT cargo vessels from Royal Bodewes shipyard
14:35 Methanol-fuelled MAN 21/31DF-M GenSet secures first propulsion order
13:32 Port of Valencia export freights grow by 2.13% in March 2024
12:48 Seatrium and Shell inks MOU to further collaborate on floating production systems
12:24 Seaspan launches second LNG bunkering vessel to deliver low-carbon energy solutions to the West Coast
11:57 Japan's 1st coastal module carrier to transport offshore wind turbine foundation components
10:36 EST-Floattech to provide the battery system for the purpose-built electric-landing utility vessel

2024 April 14

16:02 Shanghai's ship exports see considerable growth in Jan-Feb
14:13 Stena Drilling secures 1-well firm programme with Energean for Stena Forth in Morocco
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10:22 Panama Canal expects return to normal transit capacity by 2025

2024 April 13

15:04 Subsea7 awarded contract in the Gulf of Mexico
13:51 Shanghai Electric’s 'ZHI ZHEN 100' excels thorough offshore equipment test
11:18 WSC: Updated version released of “Prevention of Pest Contamination of Containers: Joint Industry Guidelines for the Cleaning of Containers”
09:43 Financiers and insurers ready to support electrification of the domestic harbour craft sector

2024 April 12

18:02 The first LNG bunkering operation performed at Klaipeda Port