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

• Ten incidents have been recorded globally during this reporting period.
• West Africa VRA/HRA: Seven incidents have been reported this week
• Indian Ocean VRA/HRA: Two 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, one incident that occurred last week has been included in this weekly report.
• Americas Region: No incidents have been reported this week.

• Seven incidents reported this week.

• The incidents from this week saw four pirate attacks, one occurring on an underway tanker approximately 98nm southwest of Cotonou, Benin. Another took place on an underway tanker approximately 70nm south of Cotonou, Benin and one took place on an underway cargo vessel approximately 77nm northwest of Sao Tome, several members of crew were kidnapped in this incident. The last pirate attack occurred on an underway cargo vessel 44nm south of Brass, Nigeria. Five members of crew were kidnapped in this incident.

• The other incident from this week saw a robbery occur on an anchored cargo vessel at Takoradi, Ghana, and suspicious approach 65nm South-southwest of Lome, Togo.

• There have already been six pirate attacks so far this month accounting for 15% of the total pirate attacks in the region this year.

• Two incidents reported this week.
  
• The incidents this week saw a general alert issued for a live firing exercise from 11th November – 12th November in the Persian Gulf and a suspicious approach towards an underway vessel approximately 63nm southeast of Aden, Yemen.
• There have now been a total of seven suspicious approaches in the region accounting for 14% of the total incidents so far this year.
• So far in quarter four there have already been twelve incidents accounting for a 71% increase on the whole of quarter four last year.

• No incidents reported this week. One incident has been included that was received after last week’s report was sent. 

• The incident saw a robbery occur on a container vessel whilst anchored at Vung Tau Anchorage, Vietnam.

• There have now been five robberies in Vietnam so far this year.

• Container vessels have now been involved in ten incidents so far this year accounting for 11% of the total incidents in the region.

• No incidents reported this week. 
• The last incident to take place in the region saw a robbery occur on an anchored bulk carrier at Santana Port, Brazil on 4th November.
• There has now been a total of six robberies that have taken place in Brazil so far this year.
• The month of October saw a total of six incidents. This is double the number of incidents compared to September 2020.

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 BMP. 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.