Dear

Please find below our most recent Weekly Maritime Report. If you have any queries about our reports please contact us at africaops@castorvali.com

• Six incidents have been recorded globally during this reporting period. As we received it after sending last week’s weekly report, one incident that occurred last week has been included in this weekly report.
• West Africa VRA/HRA. Three incidents have been reported this week.
• Indian Ocean VRA/HRA. One incident has been reported this week.
• Southeast Asia Region. Two incidents have been reported this week. As we received it after sending last week’s weekly report, one incident that occurred last week has been included in this weekly report.
• Americas Region. No incidents have been reported this week.

• Three incidents reported this week. One incident has been included that was received after last week’s report was sent.

• The three incidents this week saw a suspicious approach on a tanker whilst underway approximately 114 nm southeast of Tema, Ghana and a pirate attack on a fishing vessel approximately 95 nm south of Lome,Togo Both the Captain and Chief Engineer were kidnapped in the latter incident.

• Fishing vessels have been involved in five incidents so far this year.These have included three pirate attacks, one hijacking and one robbery.

• As the end of August approaches, there’s so far been eight incidents so far this month. That’s double the number of incidents compared to last month but a 27% decrease compared to August last year.

• One incident 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.
• Somali pirates have released three Iranian hostages who had been held for over five years. They are the last of the crew of an Iranian fishing vessel that was captured in March 2015.
• As the end of August approaches there’s been two incidents so far this month. That’s a 100% increase since last month and a 100 increase when compared to August last year.

• Two incidents reported this week. One incident has been included that was received after last week’s report was sent.

• The incidents this week saw two attempted robberies take place on bulk carrier’s whilst underway in the Singapore. One occurring on 29 August and the other on the 30 August.

• Sixteen (24%) of the sixty six incidents this year have taken place in Singapore.

• As the end of August approaches there’s been six incidents so far this month. That’s the same as last month and also the same when compared to August last year.

• No incidents reported this week.
• The last incident to take place was a robbery that occurred onboard a bulk carrier that was drifting 3 nm northwest of Carrefour, Haiti on 28 July.
• Of the twenty two incidents this year anchored vessels have been in fifteen (68%) of them. This is similar to last year where anchored vessels accounted for 64% of the incidents.
• As the end of August approaches we are yet to see any alerts this month. That’s a decrease of two from the previous month and one less than August last year.

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.

Contact us:
Email: info@castorval.com | ops@castorvali.com
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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.