West African pirates deploy lighters to steal oil - 40 attacks in 2012

A SPIKE in West African piracy has occurred with the hijacking of three ships since August 18, according to the ICC International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB-PRC), an agency of the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce.

As of September 5, there were 40 attacks on vessels in the Gulf of Guinea this year, with 19 boarded and eight successfully hijacked. In total, 168 crewmembers have been taken hostage and two have lost their lives.

"Recent attacks are notable as they have all been against tankers, with the purpose of stealing the cargo. Furthermore, the incidents reported off West Africa are characterised by the degree of violence used against crew," said the IMB, according to GAC Hot Port News.

A tanker was hijacked at anchor off Lome on August 18 while another was attacked nearby on August 28. Yet another was boarded at anchor off Lagos. In the last case, the crew secured themselves in the vessel's panic room, or citadel, while the Nigerian navy sent a helicopter and frigate and chased the pirates away.

"The attacks off West Africa follow a different modus operandi from pirate activity in other parts of the world," said IMB director Pottengal Mukundan.

"In addition to armed robbery, the more serious attacks involve the hijacking of product tankers to steal a part of the cargo. All the attacks usually involve high levels of violence against the crew. After the hijacking the product is lightered on to smaller vessel to be taken and sold illegally in the region. There has long been a market for the distribution and supply of this illegal oil cargo," he said.

Said Captain Mukundan: "There continues to be a serious problem with under-reporting of attacks in this area. This may be because of a fear of reprisals or a feeling that little will change as a result. The IMB recommends that every attack is reported because it is only by bringing the scale of the crime into the open that authorities will allocate appropriate resources to deal with piracy."