Pirates Abduct 138 Crews In Gulf Of Guinea, 2020  -Dryad

No fewer than 138 vessel crews were kidnapped by rampaging sea pirates in the Gulf of Guinea in 2020.
This is as the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has advised that vessels remain at least 200nm-250nm offshore where possible, to avoid unnecessary attacks by pirates.
Vessels were 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.
This was contained in a global report made available by one of the leading world’s maritime security agency, Dryad Maritime.
The agency said just this December, 2020, about nine incidents of pirate attacks at the Gulf of Guinea were recorded.
The report indicates that last week’s incident was the 27th kidnapping with a total number of 138 persons kidnapped in the Gulf of Guinea in 2020.
According to the report, a vessel was boarded 28nm SW Brass resulting in the kidnap of eight personnel.
The vessel was confirmed as the Cameroonian flagged M/V STEVIA (IMO8107000) in transit from Port Harcourt to Abidjan.
The Tide learnt that there has been a surge of pirate incidents in the past five weeks, resulting in an increased risk rating for the Gulf of Guinea HRA to critical.