All information presented below are retrieved from ICC Commercial Crime Services (CCS) and IMO Global Integrated Shipping Information System. Information are being updated on a monthly basis.
- Total Incidents Worldwide: 143
- Total Hijackings Worldwide: 2
- Somali related Incidents: 9
- Vessels held by Somali Pirates: 4
- Hostages held by Somali Pirates: 68
- Nigeria related Incidents: 22
For a geographical representation of pirate attacks location please refer to IMB Piracy & Armed Robbery Map, a very valuable tool that shows all the piracy and armed robbery incidents reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre during 2013. If exact coordinates are not provided, estimated positions are shown based on information provided. Zoom-in and click on the pointers to view more information of an individual attack. Pointers may be superimposed on each other.
PIRACY & ARMED ROBBERY REPORTS until last week of July
Date: 31.07.2013. Time: 2300 UTC. Position: 05:13.0N – 004:03.12W, Abidjan Anchorage, Ivory Coast. Vessel type: Bulk Carrier. Robbers boarded a bulk carrier at anchor using a long pole with a hook. The crew spotted them and raised alarm. On hearing this, robbers escaped on a wooden boat. All crew safe and nothing stolen.
Date: 31.07.2013. Time: 0200 LT. Position: Berth No. 49, Alexandria Port, Egypt. Vessel type: N/A. An AB on duty noticed a robber inside the Bosun forward store. He immediately informed the Duty Officer. The store was inspected and could not find the robber. Upon checking, it was found a life raft in the store had been opened and damaged.
Date: 30.07.2013. Time: 1345 LT. Position: 03:31N – 006:05E, Around 45nm South of Brass, Nigeria. Vessel type: Chemical Tanker. A gunboat claiming to be a Nigerian navy boat called a chemical tanker on VHF and asked details of vessel, cargo, last and next ports. This information was passed to the gun boat. After around 15 minutes the gun boat approached the vessel at high speed and demanded that the vessel be stopped and boarding permitted. Master informed that he would not be stopping as the area was high risk for piracy attacks. The gun boat threatened and followed the vessel for 20 minutes and then fired two shots in the air. Master immediately raised alarm over VHF and requested ships in the vicinity to relay its message to port control which was not responding to its calls. On hearing the VHF alarm the gun boat moved away.
Date: 29.07.2013. Time: 0412 LT. Position: 01:06.3N – 104:10.9E: Tanjung Uban, Indonesia. Vessel type: LPG Tanker. Duty AB on board a LPG tanker noticed about eight robbers armed with knives boarding the vessel from the poop deck. Duty Officer was informed, alarm raised. All crew stayed inside the accommodation until police agents arrived and boarded the vessel. Together with police a search was carried out and found no robbers on board and that nothing had been stolen.
Date: 27.07.2013. Time: 1612 LT. Position: Chittagong anchorage, Bangladesh. Vessel type: LPG Tanker. While at anchor waiting for berthing instructions duty crew on routine patrol noticed a robber lowering ropes into a waiting boat. He ran into the accommodation and informed the duty officer who raised alarm and crew were mustered. When crew approached the stern, the robbers cut off the loose rope and escaped in the boat. Authorities informed.
Date: 27.07.2013. Time: 1725 LT. Position: 07:05S – 112:39E, Gresik Inner Anchorage, Indonesia. Vessel type: N/A. While at anchor, unidentified persons were spotted at the forecastle paint store entrance. Alarm raised and crew alerted. On approaching the forecastle, the robbers jumped overboard and escaped in a small boat. Ship’s stores stolen.
Date: 27.07.2013. Time: 0305 LT. Position: 29:50N – 032:34E, Suez Anchorage, Egypt. Vessel type: N/A. Robbers boarded a container ship at anchor. Crew spotted one of them and raised the alarm. The robbers escaped and nothing was stolen.
Date: 25.07.2013. Time: 0340 LT. Position: 1° 18.00′ N – 104° 41.00′ E, Around 7nm NE of Tanjung Berakit, Indonesia, South China Sea. Vessel type: Tug. About six pirates in a speed boat armed with knives boarded a tug towing a barge. They entered crew cabins and took hostage all crew members and stole crew personal belongings and tug properties and escaped.
Date: 24.07.2013. Time: 0710 UTC. Position: 04:16N – 007:56E: 40nm SE of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Vessel type: Product Tanker. Pirates attacked and fired at a product tanker. Terminal security responded to the incident and the pirates moved away. The vessel sustained damage from gunfire. Crew received minor injuries. Later the vessel returned to Lagos Port safely.
Date: 24.07.2013. Time: 2300 LT. Position: 1° 16.00′ N – 104° 37.00′ E, Around 3nm NE of Tanjung Berati, Indonesia, South China Sea. Vessel type: Tug. About seven pirates in a speed boat armed with knives boarded the tug underway. They took hostage all the crew members, tied up their hands, stole their cash and personal belongings and escaped. One crew injured.
Date: 21.07.2013. Time: 0200 LT. Position: Nha Be Terminal, Viet Nam, South China Sea. Vessel type: Product tanker. Five robbers in a small boat approached the berthed product tanker. Two robbers armed with knives managed to board the tanker using a rope while the remaining robbers remained in their boat. Duty A/B on deck watch, noticed the robbers and informed the duty officer who raised the alarm. Crew mustered and approached the robbers with wooden sticks. On seeing the crew alertness, the robbers jumped overboard and escaped empty-handed.
Date: 18.07.2013. Time: 0150 UTC. Position: 6° 05.00′ N – 1° 17.00′ E, Lome anchorage, Togo, West Africa. Vessel type: Bulk carrier. Duty Officer on board an anchored bulk carrier spotted an unlit skiff with 5-6 persons approaching. The D/O directed the ship search light towards the skiff, raised the alarm, activated the fire hoses and called the Togo Navy. It was observed that the persons, with hoods pulled over their heads, were attempting to board the vessel using a pole and hook. Three flares were fired in the direction of the skiff. Seeing the crew alertness, they aborted the attempt and moved away. During the incident another two skiffs were observed close to the vessel.
Date: 16.07.2013. Time: 1530 LT. Position: 13° 28.00′ N – 43° 01.00′ E, Red Sea, Bahrain, East Africa. Vessel type: Chemical tanker. D/O on board a chemical tanker underway sighted small crafts around three nm on the radar. Onboard security team took their position and non essential crew mustered in the citadel. Three skiffs carrying weapons and RPG launchers in between 16 fishing vessels crossed the tanker from stbd to port. Ship’s whistle was sounded but the skiffs continued their approach. The security team fired warning flares resulting in the skiffs turning on their lights, stopped their approach and moved away.
Date: 16.07.2013. Time: 0430 LT. Position: 5° 29.00′ N – 1° 38.00′ E, Around 46nm SSE of Lome, Togo, West Africa. Vessel type: Product Tanker. Armed pirates in two speed boats approached and boarded a product tanker. They took hostage all crew members, stole their personal belongings and sailed the tanker towards South. Later, the pirates sailed the tanker to around 12nm from the coast line of Togo/Benin border where they released the crew members and disembarked from the tanker using a speed boat. Two crew members were injured during the incident and were transferred to a clinic.
Date: 15.07.2013. Time: 0552 LT. Position: 0° 26.49′ S – 8° 51.45′ E, Off Gentil Port, Gabon, West Africa. Vessel type: Tanker. Pirates boarded and hijacked the tanker underway. Pirates took hostage 24 crew members and hijacked the tanker. All authorities in the region were informed and kept updated of the incident by the IMB PRC. The tanker was released on 22 July 2013 off Nigeria. All crew safe.
Date: 14.07.2013. Time: 2246 LT. Position: 0° 29.00′ S – 8° 51.00′ E, Port Gentil, Gabon, West Africa. Vessel type: Landing Craft. Around 20 armed robbers in a speed boat approached and boarded a landing craft underway. They stole crew personal belongings and escaped. No injury to crew nor any damage to vessel, but personal belongings stolen.
Date: 10.07.2013. Time: 0345 LT. Position: 3° 02.00′ N – 104° 18.00′ E, Around 12nm NNE of Pulau Tioman, Malaysia, South China Sea. Vessel type: Tanker. About eight robbers armed with guns and knives boarded a tanker underway. They ordered the C/E to reduce speed to minimum and then mustered all the crew including the bridge and engine room watch officers in the mess room where they tied them up. The robbers then stole all crew and ship properties and cash and left the ship an hour later. Ship’s crew regained control of the vessel and sailed to Kemaman port.
Date: 07.07.2013. Time: 0455 LT. Position: Nipah Anchorage, Indonesia, South China Sea. Vessel type: Crude Oil Tanker. Four robbers armed with knives boarded the tanker during STS operations. Cargo operations stopped and all crew were mustered. Cargo operations resumed only after a thorough search of the tanker.
Date: 04.07.2013. Time: 1945 LT. Position: 3° 40.80′ S – 114° 25.30′ E, Taboneo Anchorage, Indonesia, South China Sea. Vessel type: Bulk Carrier. Three robbers in a boat boarded the anchored ship at the forecastle. Alert duty crew spotted the robbers and raised the alarm resulting in the robbers escaping empty handed.
For up to date live and accurate information please refer to ICC Commercial Crime Services (CCS) and IMO Global Integrated Shipping Information System websites.
Officer of the Watch 
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