Maersk halts shipping to Nigerian port after attack
Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk suspended all shipping to a major oil industry port in Nigeria, the company said on Monday, after militants shot at six vessels nearby last week.
Onne port is not an oil export terminal, but is used by Africa's largest oil industry as the main supply point for fuel, food, water, spares and materials to the offshore platforms that pump more than half Nigeria's 2 million barrels daily.
"Because of the security situation, no Maersk ship will call into port at Onne before security is demonstrably reestablished," said Maersk spokeswoman Angela Brink, adding that the measures applied to supply vessels and container lines.
International shipping and oil companies have also discussed strengthening security around Onne, on the outskirts of Port Harcourt in the oil producing Niger Delta, after Wednesday's raid by a prominent rebel group in which two crew were injured.
Two days after the shooting, an oil tanker preparing to discharge gasoline at Port Harcourt burst into flames after two loud explosions.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it caused the blast with a remote controlled bomb, but the government denied this, saying a technical fault was to blame.
Exports of crude oil and gas from the country's largest export terminal on Bonny Island, about 30 miles (50 km) from Onne, were unaffected.
SUSPENDED
French shipping firm Bourbon told ship industry paper Lloyd's List it had suspended all its operations in the Bonny River after one of its ships was involved in the shooting.
"We have stopped activities in some parts of Nigeria, in a restricted area that is not safe at the moment," a spokeswoman for Bourbon, which operates 40 ships in Nigeria, told the paper.
A security manager with a major oil company said the industry was discussing cooperation to improve security for supply vessels along the crucial marine artery from Port Harcourt to the high seas off Bonny.
Because the Nigerian Navy has limited ships and manpower, they are considering a convoy system to focus all their defense resources on fewer targets, he said.
The waters off Nigeria are already considered among the world's most dangerous for shipping.
Nigeria's oil output has been running at around 20 percent below capacity for two years since militants launched a wave of bombings of oil pipelines, production plants and export terminals, and kidnapped staff. Thousands of foreign workers have fled and many investments have been put on hold.
Violence has increased since last September, when MEND called off a four-month ceasefire.
Last month the army launched helicopter gunship raids on the jungle hideout of a notorious gangster near Port Harcourt, triggering a reprisal attack on two police stations, a luxury hotel and a night club on New Year's Day when 18 people were killed.
In another incident on Monday, a naval personnel was shot and injured when gunmen attacked an oil industry ship he was protecting at Aker Base on the outskirts of town, industry sources said.
Onne port is not an oil export terminal, but is used by Africa's largest oil industry as the main supply point for fuel, food, water, spares and materials to the offshore platforms that pump more than half Nigeria's 2 million barrels daily.
"Because of the security situation, no Maersk ship will call into port at Onne before security is demonstrably reestablished," said Maersk spokeswoman Angela Brink, adding that the measures applied to supply vessels and container lines.
International shipping and oil companies have also discussed strengthening security around Onne, on the outskirts of Port Harcourt in the oil producing Niger Delta, after Wednesday's raid by a prominent rebel group in which two crew were injured.
Two days after the shooting, an oil tanker preparing to discharge gasoline at Port Harcourt burst into flames after two loud explosions.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it caused the blast with a remote controlled bomb, but the government denied this, saying a technical fault was to blame.
Exports of crude oil and gas from the country's largest export terminal on Bonny Island, about 30 miles (50 km) from Onne, were unaffected.
SUSPENDED
French shipping firm Bourbon told ship industry paper Lloyd's List it had suspended all its operations in the Bonny River after one of its ships was involved in the shooting.
"We have stopped activities in some parts of Nigeria, in a restricted area that is not safe at the moment," a spokeswoman for Bourbon, which operates 40 ships in Nigeria, told the paper.
A security manager with a major oil company said the industry was discussing cooperation to improve security for supply vessels along the crucial marine artery from Port Harcourt to the high seas off Bonny.
Because the Nigerian Navy has limited ships and manpower, they are considering a convoy system to focus all their defense resources on fewer targets, he said.
The waters off Nigeria are already considered among the world's most dangerous for shipping.
Nigeria's oil output has been running at around 20 percent below capacity for two years since militants launched a wave of bombings of oil pipelines, production plants and export terminals, and kidnapped staff. Thousands of foreign workers have fled and many investments have been put on hold.
Violence has increased since last September, when MEND called off a four-month ceasefire.
Last month the army launched helicopter gunship raids on the jungle hideout of a notorious gangster near Port Harcourt, triggering a reprisal attack on two police stations, a luxury hotel and a night club on New Year's Day when 18 people were killed.
In another incident on Monday, a naval personnel was shot and injured when gunmen attacked an oil industry ship he was protecting at Aker Base on the outskirts of town, industry sources said.