Suspected pirates kidnapped 12 of 14 crew members on board Dutch cargo vessel FWN Rapide near the southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, Ships & Ports reported, citing vessel owner ForestWave Navigation BV.

The incident occurred April 21 as the vessel was nearing Port Harcourt in Nigeria’s oil region, the online publication reported on its website Tuesday.

The ship owner is working with domestic and international authorities to contact the missing crew and secure their return, while the two other members are safe, it said. </s> Home Sector Piracy Dutch ship attacked in Nigeria, hostages taken April 23rd, 2018 Sam Chambers Europe, Operations, Piracy

Dutch MPP owner ForestWave Navigation has reported that on Saturday morning its general cargo vessel FWN Rapide came under attack from pirates prior to entering the port of Port Harcourt in Nigeria. A number of the ship’s crew have been taken hostage.

ForestWave said it has had some contact with the remaining crew and is now trying to move the ship to a safe location.

“We are currently in close contact with the authorities and taking professional advice in order to secure the earliest release of those that are currently being held,” the company said in a release on Sunday.

The Dutch flagged ship was on its way from Takoradi, Ghana to Port Harourt when it was attacked in an area that has seen pirate attacks increase in recent months. </s> April 24 (UPI) -- Suspected pirates boarded a Dutch-flagged cargo ship near the Nigerian coast, the ship's managing company said Monday.

The suspects kidnapped 12 of the 14 crew members on board FWN Rapide on Saturday near Port Harcourt, ForestWave Navigation BV said.

Two others crew members were uninjured and moved the vessel to a safe location, the company said. ForestWave commended the two for their "courageous and professional handling" of the incident.

"ForestWave would like to stress its main priority is to establish contact with the missing seafarers and secure their earliest and secure return," the company said in a statement. "The company's Emergency Response team is working around the clock and is liaising with the local and international authorities."

The ship was traveling from Takoradi, Ghana, to Bonny, Nigeria, when it came under attack. </s> Suspected pirates have seized 12 crewmembers of a Dutch-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria, the vessel's managing company confirmed Monday.

The 480-foot MV FWN Rapide was attacked on Saturday morning as it was approaching Port Harcourt, Nigeria, according to gCaptain, an industry website.

According to the ship's Automatic Identification System (AIS) tracking, it was bound from Takoradi, Ghana, to Bonny Island, Nigeria, at the time of the attack, gCaptain says.

The ship's manager, ForestWave, issued a statement Monday saying its "main priority is to establish contact with the missing seafarers and secure their earliest and secure return."

"The company's Emergency Response team is working around the clock and is liaising with the local and international authorities," the statement said.

"We are currently in close contact with the authorities and taking professional advice in order to secure the earliest release of those that are currently being held," the statement read. "Together with our local representatives in the countries of origin of our valued seafarers we are keeping the families of the FWN Rapide crew informed about the situation."

Two crewmembers were left aboard and are reported safe. ForestWave lauded them for their "courageous and professional handling" of the vessel following the attack, crediting them with moving the vessel to a safe location.

Piracy off the Horn of Africa, made famous in part by the Hollywood film Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks, has largely shifted to West Coast of Africa, particularly Nigeria, which has been an on again, off-again hotspot.

In 2013, Nigerian pirates seized the U.S.-flagged C-Retriever, a 222-foot offshore resupply vessel, holding two of its crew for a month. </s> DAKAR/MUMBAI (Reuters) - A ship carrying 22 Indian crew and 13,500 tons of gasoline is missing in the Gulf of Guinea after contact was lost in Benin on Friday, the company and India’s minister of external affairs said on Sunday.

The Gulf of Guinea has become an increasing target for pirates who steal cargo and demand ransoms, even as piracy incidents fall worldwide, experts say.

The Marine Express tanker, managed by Hong Kong-based Anglo-Eastern, was last see in Benin’s waters at 3:30 a.m. GMT on Friday after which contact was lost, an Anglo Eastern spokesman told Reuters.

The cause of the loss of communication was unknown and a search was underway, conducted with help from Nigerian and Beninese authorities, Anglo-Eastern said.

“We regret that contact has been lost with the vessel, which was the Cotonou Anchorage in Benin, West Africa,” the spokesman said.

India’s minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj said on Twitter that 22 Indian nationals were onboard.

Piracy-related issues were a decade ago focussed off the east African coast, particularly Somalia’s unpoliced waters. But the Gulf of Guinea threat has increased.

Ships in the area were the target of a series of piracy-related incidents last year, according to a January report by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), which highlighted the waters off West Africa as an area of growing concern.

There were ten incidents of kidnapping involving 65 crew members in or around Nigerian waters, the IMB said. Globally 16 vessels reported being fired upon, seven of which were in the Gulf of Guinea.

On Jan. 10 a company lost communication with its tanker anchored in Cotonou, according to the IMB. After a six-day search, the tanker and crew were found safely in Lagos after the tanker owner negotiated with the hijackers, IMB said. </s> Dakar/Mumbai: A ship carrying 22 Indian crew and 13,500 tons of gasoline went missing in the piracy-plagued waters off the Benin coast in the Gulf of Guinea near West Africa, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Sunday.

The Marine Express tanker, managed by Hong Kong-based Anglo-Eastern, was last seen on Friday in Benin`s waters at 3:30 am GMT after which contact was lost, an Anglo Eastern spokesperson told news agency Reuters.

The cause of the loss of communication was unknown and a search was underway, conducted with help from Nigerian and Beninese authorities, Anglo-Eastern said.

"We regret that contact has been lost with the vessel, which was the Cotonou Anchorage in Benin, West Africa," the spokesperson said.

Earlier, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had tweeted, “A merchant vessel Marine Express [oil tanker], owned by the Mumbai-based Anglo-Eastern shipping company with 22 Indian nationals on board, is presumably missing off the coast of Benin in the Gulf of Guinea.”

Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj also said on Twitter that 22 Indian nationals were onboard. The minister further said that we are making "all-out efforts" in coordination with Nigerian and Benin naval authorities to trace the missing ship.

Piracy-related issues were a decade ago focused on the east African coast, particularly Somalia`s unpoliced waters. But the Gulf of Guinea threat has increased.

Ships in the area were the target of a series of piracy-related incidents last year, according to a January report by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), which highlighted the waters off West Africa as an area of growing concern.

There were ten incidents of kidnapping involving 65 crew members in or around Nigerian waters, the IMB said. Globally 16 vessels reported being fired upon, seven of which were in the Gulf of Guinea.

According to the IMB, on January 10, a company lost communication with its tanker anchored in Cotonou. After a six-day search, the tanker and crew were found safely in Lagos after the tanker owner negotiated with the hijackers, IMB said. </s> NAIROBI, March 15 (Reuters) - Pirates off the coast of Somalia, who hijacked an oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew on board, are demanding a ransom for the release of the vessel, the EU Naval Force said.

The pirates seized the Comoros-flagged Aris 13 tanker on Monday, the first such hijacking in the region since 2012, and took it to the port of Alula in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland.

"The EU Naval Force ... has received positive confirmation from the master of ... Aris 13, that his ship and crew are currently being held captive by a number of suspected armed pirates in an anchorage off the north coast of Puntland, close to Alula," the force said in a statement late on Tuesday.

EU Navfor said as soon as it received an alert on the ship's seizure, it sent patrol aircraft from its Djibouti base to try to make radio contact and late on Tuesday its headquarters in London managed to contact the vessel's master by phone.

"The master confirmed that armed men were on board his ship and they were demanding a ransom for the ship´s release. The EU Naval Force has now passed the information regarding the incident to the ship´s owners," EU Navfor said.

It gave no details on the size of the ransom.

The 1,800 deadweight tonne tanker is owned by Armi Shipping, a company registered in Panama, and managed by Aurora Ship Management in the United Arab Emirates, according to the French transport ministry's Equasis shipping data website.

Experts said ship owners were becoming lax after a long period of calm, and that the vessel was an easy target because it was low, slow and close to the coast.

Aid group Oceans Beyond Piracy said in a statement late on Tuesday the ship was carrying gas and fuel and was not registered with the Maritime Security Center for the Horn of Africa, which registers and tracks vessels in the region.

The group said the Aris 13 was preparing to go through a route known as the Socotra Gap, between Somalia and Socotra Island which vessels often use, regardless of the piracy risks, to save time and cost.

"This attack reinforces the need for vessels to follow shipping industry Best Management Practices (BMP) within the BMP specified High Risk Area," Oceans Beyond Piracy said.

There was no immediate comment from the ship's owners and managers.

In their prime in 2011, Somali pirates launched 237 attacks off Somalia's coast, data from the International Maritime Bureau showed, and held hundreds of hostages.

That year, Oceans Beyond Piracy estimated the global cost of piracy at about $7 billion. The shipping industry bore roughly 80 percent of those costs, the group's analysis shows.

However, attacks fell off sharply after ship owners tightened security and vessels stayed further away from the Somali coast. (Reporting by George Obulutsa and Katharine Houreld; Editing by Louise Ireland) </s> NAIROBI — Pirates off the coast of Somalia, who hijacked an oil tanker with eight Sri Lankan crew on board, are demanding a ransom for the release of the vessel, the EU Naval Force said.

The pirates seized the Comoros-flagged Aris 13 tanker on Monday, the first such hijacking in the region since 2012, and took it to the port of Alula in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland.

“The EU Naval Force … has received positive confirmation from the master of … Aris 13, that his ship and crew are currently being held captive by a number of suspected armed pirates in an anchorage off the north coast of Puntland, close to Alula,” the force said in a statement late on Tuesday.

EU Navfor said as soon as it received an alert on the ship’s seizure, it sent patrol aircraft from its Djibouti base to try to make radio contact and late on Tuesday its headquarters in London managed to contact the vessel’s master by phone.

“The master confirmed that armed men were on board his ship and they were demanding a ransom for the ship’s release. The EU Naval Force has now passed the information regarding the incident to the ship’s owners,” EU Navfor said.

It gave no details on the size of the ransom.

The 1,800 deadweight tonne tanker is owned by Armi Shipping, a company registered in Panama, and managed by Aurora Ship Management in the United Arab Emirates, according to the French transport ministry’s Equasis shipping data website.

Experts said ship owners were becoming lax after a long period of calm and that the vessel was an easy target because it was low, slow and close to the coast.

Aid group Oceans Beyond Piracy said in a statement late on Tuesday the ship was carrying gas and fuel and was not registered with the Maritime Security Center for the Horn of Africa, which registers and tracks vessels in the region.

The group said the Aris 13 was preparing to go through a route known as the Socotra Gap, between Somalia and Socotra Island which vessels often use, regardless of the piracy risks, to save time and cost.

“This attack reinforces the need for vessels to follow shipping industry Best Management Practices within the BMP specified High Risk Area,” Oceans Beyond Piracy said.

There was no immediate comment from the ship’s owners and managers.

In their prime in 2011, Somali pirates launched 237 attacks off Somalia’s coast, data from the International Maritime Bureau showed, and held hundreds of hostages.

That year, Oceans Beyond Piracy estimated the global cost of piracy at about $7 billion. The shipping industry bore roughly 80 percent of those costs, the group’s analysis shows.

However, attacks fell off sharply after ship owners tightened security and vessels stayed further away from the Somali coast. </s> Feb. 4 (UPI) -- An oil tanker carrying 22 Indian crew members and thousands of tons of gas was reported missing off the coast of West Africa Sunday, India's foreign ministry said.

The merchant vessel Marine Express went missing off the coast of Benin in the Gulf of Guinea, India's foreign minister Sushma Swaraj announced on Twitter.

"We are making all out efforts in coordination with Nigerian and Benin naval authorities to trace the missing ship," Swaraj said.

She added a 24-hour hotline has also been established as part of the search operations.

Hong Kong-based shipping company Anglo-Eastern, which owns the ship, said contact was last made with the vessel on Thursday.

"All the appropriate authorities have been alerted and are responding," the company said. "Our first priority is of course the safety of the 22 crew members on board, whose families have been contacted and informed of the situation."

It is believed the ship, carrying 13,500 tons of gasoline may have been hijacked by pirates, India Today reported.

Nigeria's Coast Guard is also on the lookout for the ship.
The owners of the Dutch ship MV FWN Rapide announce the ship was attacked by pirates last night while sailing from Ghana to Nigeria and 12 of the crew abducted.