The hijacking of MV Cotton off the western coast of Africa has again raised security concerns for merchant vessels in African waters. The Malta flagged ship — owned by Turkish shipping company Genel Denizcilik Nakliyati AS (Geden Line) — has an all Indian crew of 24 and was hijacked while it was at anchorage at Gabon’s Gentil Port on around July 15. However, experts in the industry have observed a shift in maritime dacoity from eastern Africa in Somalia to the western coast and ‘hijacking’ by the raiders there, who until now only looted vessels.
According to an office bearer from a leading sailor’s union, there has been no contact with the vessel since the attack. “Pirates normally survey a ship over the next few days to study and value the cargo before they contact the company for the ransom. If the cargo is found worthless, they use the crewmembers as leverage,” said the official. An official from V-Ships — the crew management company that appointed the men aboard MV Cotton — the shipping company Geden Lines is in touch with the crew’s families and other government and security agencies. “Geden Lines has also observed that piracy in this region is unusual,” the official said.
According to Captain Vaibhav Dalvi, a senior sailor, piracy in western Africa was until now reported in the Gulf of Guinea by Nigerian and Benin raiders. “But they too never held hostages and were only interested the oil and cargo. They are merely sea-borne dacoits who also robbed the sailors and crew. There are two firsts in the MV Cotton incidents. The first is piracy in Gabon which was until now reported to be safe. The second is taking hostages which is unusual of west African pirates,” he explained.
According to statistics with Communis Hostis Omnium, an organisation tracking maritime piracy, 34 piracy incidents in the Gulf of Guinea (west African coast) were reported between January and September 2012 as against 30 in 2011. The attacks were reported off the coasts of Togo, Nigeria and Benin.
Sailors have also observed a notable decline in eastern African piracy in the Gulf of Aden by Somali nationals. “The entire Gulf of Aden is swarming with military vessels from the European Union, the UN and the NATO ever since piracy began here since 2005,” said a senior captain.