Pirates board Danish-owned ship in dreaded Gulf of Guinea

Pirates attacked and boarded a Danish-owned ship in the Gulf of Guinea on Saturday and all communications channels with the vessel are down, a spokesperson for shipping company Monjasa said.

All 16 crew members sought refuge in a safe room on board the Monjasa Reformer vessel, a spokesperson for the shipping company said on Tuesday.

The Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker, which was sitting idle, was attacked about 140 nautical miles west of the Republic of the Congo’s Port Pointe Noire.

The vessel is operated by Dubai-based Montec Ship Management, which is owned by Monjasa.

Montec reported the incident to a maritime cooperation centre operated by the British and French navies to maintain safety in the Gulf of Guinea. According to Monjasa, the operator is working with all relevant maritime authorities in the region, including several navies.

The Gulf of Guinea, described by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) as one of the world’s most dangerous shipping routes, covers 11,000 square kilometres (4,247sq miles) and stretches from Angola to Senegal.

Since 2021, piracy cases have been on a decline due to collaborations among countries across the area alongside efforts of foreign naval ships, according to the United Nations Security Council.

Denmark, which has big commercial shipping interests, deployed a frigate to the gulf in 2021 to protect shipping, but the frigate was pulled back last year after the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

In November 2021, a Danish naval patrol killed four pirates in an exchange of fire just outside Nigeria’s territorial waters.