• A total of two incidents have been recorded globally during this reporting period.
• West Africa VRA/HRA: Two incidents have been reported this week. 
• Indian Ocean VRA/HRA: No incidents have been reported this week.
• Southeast Asia Region: No incidents have been reported this week. As we received it after sending last week’s weekly report, two incidents that occurred last week have been included in this weekly report.
• Americas Region: No incidents have been reported this week.

• Two incidents reported this week

• The incidents this week saw two robberies occur. One armed robbery took place on an anchored fishing vessel approximately 10nm southeast of Freetown, Sierra Leone. The other robbery occurred on an anchored vessel at Banana, Democratic Republic of Congo.

• The crew who were kidnapped onboard a tanker approximately 173 nm southwest of Agbami Terminal on 17th July have now been released.

• There have been 82 incidents so far in the region this year. Thirty One (38%) of them being robberies. This is similar to last year where 41% of the incidents were robberies.

• No incidents reported this week.
  
• The last incident in the region was in relation to the rising tensions in the region between the United States and the Iranian Government within the Persian Gulf.
• HMS Montrose, a Coalition Task Force (CTF) warship has been patrolling the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) in the Gulf of Aden.
• General alerts currently account for (42%) of the incidents in the region this year.

• No incidents reported this week. Two incidents have been included that were received after last week’s report was sent.

• These two incidents were both robberies. One saw a robbery take place on a berthed tanker at Bauan Port, Philippines whilst one attempted robbery occurred on an anchored tanker at Dumai Inner Anchorage, Indonesia.

• Tanker’s have been involved in twenty four (40%) of the incidents in the region so far this year. This is an increase on last year where twenty two (26%) of the incidents involved tanker’s.

• No incidents reported this week. 
• The last incident to take place was a robbery that occurred onboard a bulk carrier that was drifting 3nm northwest of Carrefour, Haiti on 28th July.
• Seven (32%) of the incidents this year have involved bulk carriers. All seven of the incidents were robberies. Six of those vessels were anchored whilst one was drifting.
• Robberies are the biggest threat in the region, highlighted by the fact 91% of the incidents this year have been robberies.

This report is produced in partnership with with Clearwater (CWD).  All findings are predictive and estimative. To communicate these findings clearly and in order to accurately compare threat levels, the report uses a variation of terminology used by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Piracy: CWD/CV have adopted the definition of piracy similar to that given in the BMP5. Content within this document uses the term ‘piracy’ which includes all violent and non-violent acts against vessels, her crew and cargo which have taken place either in internal waterways, territorial waters or deep offshore. CWD/CV classifies piracy incidents into six categories:

Hijacking – Crew lost control of the vessel for a sufficient period of time and then pirates kidnapped at least one crewmember and/or passenger (s)

Pirate Attack – Vessel was attacked with gunfire or RPG fire and/or then boarded the vessel with the intent to hijack and/or kidnap at least one crewmember(s) and/or passenger(s)

Robbery – Vessel is boarded with criminal intent, theft does not have to occur

Suspicious approach/vessels – Suspicious activity reported (i.e. a vessel was approached by unidentified craft with one or more persons on board) or sighting of firearms and boarding equipment on board a suspicious vessel and/or sighting of a confirmed pirate mother ship

General Alert – A reported incident has been released by authorities to notify seafarers of a possible incident which is still being investigated/confirmed. This can also be a warning of an imminent Danger to seafarers

Caution – An unconfirmed warning of an incident that could affect seafarers which CWD Operations Centre has received.

With our head office in the UK, and regional offices in East, West and South Africa, the Castor Vali Group specialises in International Protective Services, Corporate Security and Risk Management services to governments, multinational organisations and the energy sector in emerging and high risk markets. We have extensive experience and a thorough understanding of the risks when operating in remote and hostile environments with safety at the heart of our operations and we are proud to consistently deliver the most complex projects safely, on time and on budget. Our security and advisory experts are highly experienced and qualified to provide a dedicated, client focused service, delivering risk mitigation solutions carefully tailored to project priorities.

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Disclaimer

You have received this report as part of your organisation’s subscription. Castor Vali assessment and advice is given based on the information received and processed by us and the surrounding circumstances known to us to exist at the time. Subsequent changes to relevant information or the surrounding circumstances may affect the reliability of our assessment and advice, but we do not accept responsibility for that effect. We do not accept responsibility for the outcome of any action taken or not taken as a result of our assessment and advice unless the possibility of that action being taken or not taken is set out in specific terms in our instructions.