January 18 ------ A Post-Panamax containership operated by Danish shipping giant Maersk has come under an attempted piracy attack in the Gulf of Guinea. The 4,496 TEU Maersk Cardiff was approached by a small vessel some 150 nautical miles southwest of Bonny in the evening of 13 January 2021, Dryad Global said. “We can confirm that on 13 January 2021 at app. 20.30 local time, criminals attempted boarding of the Maersk Cardiff while en route from Tema, Ghana to Cameroon,” Maersk said separately in an emailed statement.
Crew members managed to alert a patrol ship before retreating to a citadel. However, the perpetrators had already left before the guard vessel arrived. “We were able to get a guard vessel to the scene who confirmed that no criminals were in the vicinity of Maersk Cardiff,” Maersk added. All crew members were reported safe and the Singapore-flagged ship was ready to continue its voyage. “We are fortunate that our crew on Maersk Cardiff are safe, and we will continue to seek solutions to an unacceptable situation where the security risk in Gulf of Guinea is increased,” Palle Laursen, Chief Technical Officer A.P. Moller – Maersk, commented.
Source: offshore-energy.biz