Reporting indicates that MV CAP SAINT GEORGES (IMO 7312529) was boarded by an unknown number of persons and 5 crew members have been kidnapped (3 Cameroonians, 1 Ghanaian, 1 Sierra Leonian). Vessel continued to Lome and arrived on 13th December.

his incident is the 26th kidnapping with a total number of 130 persons kidnapped in Gulf of Guinea HRA in 2020.  There have been a surge of incidents in the past 5 weeks, resulting in an increased risk rating for the Gulf of Guinea HRA to CRITICAL on 11th November.

This is the 8th incident in the GoG HRA in December. The previous 7 incidents have consisted of  4 attacks, 3 boardings and an approach, all of which have been unsuccessful.

Vessels are advised to operate within this area at a heightened posture maintaining the highest levels of vigilance whilst implementing full hardening / mitigation in accordance with BMP West Africa where possible. In addition the IMB advises that vessels remain at least 200nm-250nm offshore where possible.

Source: Dryad Global