A Singapore-flag bunker tanker boarded by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea has still not been located two days after it was seized.
Hai Soon Diesel Trading’s 6,100-dwt chemical/product tanker Success 9 (built 2003) was attacked at 1400 UTC on Monday while 309 nautical miles (572 km) south-west of Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.
Piracy reporting body Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade — Gulf of Guinea (MDAT-GoG) said in an update on Wednesday that its location is not yet known.
The organisation asked that “masters within the vicinity report any sighting of the vessel or suspicious activity”.
MDAT-GoG described the Success 9 as a “black-hulled tanker with a white superstructure, white funnel with blue stripes”.
On Tuesday, a senior Hai Soon executive confirmed that contact with the ship had been lost and it was presumed to have been hijacked.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and trying to re-establish contact with the vessel,” she told TradeWinds.
An unknown number of suspects boarded the tanker.
Security company Ambrey noted that the ship’s AIS transmissions stopped at 1425 UTC, 25 minutes after the incident reportedly started.
At the time, the vessel was drifting with an estimated 2.1-metre freeboard.
This latest incident came less than a month after the hijacking of the 13,700-dwt product carrier Monjasa Reformer (built 2003), which was seized by pirates on 26 March while it was around 140 nautical miles off the Republic of Congo’s Pointe Noire. Six crew members are believed to have been kidnapped.
The UK-based EOS Risk Group said the two incidents exemplify “West African pirates’ ability to conduct piracy at great ranges from the shore”.
EOS Risk advised vessels to exercise extreme caution and remain vigilant while maintaining strict anti-piracy watch and measures.
