Nigerian Navy Thwarts Hijacking of Chinese Fishing Vessel

May 19 ------ The Chinese fishing trawler Hailufeng 11, licensed to fish in Côte d’Ivoire, was taken by pirates on Thursday, May 14 in the Ivorian exclusive economic zone with 18 crewmembers aboard – eight Chinese, seven Ivorian and three Ghanaian. Through rapid and engaged cooperation among a number of different African states and institutions, the vessel was tracked, and the Nigerian Navy was able to interdict it 140 nautical miles south of the Lagos Fairway Buoy at about 2210 local time on the night of May 16. When approached, the pirates refused to stop, and the Nigerian Navy’s Special Boat Service, embarked on the NNS Nguru, performed an opposed boarding while underway at 9 knots. The dramatic rescue was hugely successful, as all 18 hostages were recovered, 10 pirates were arrested, and the vessel was safely escorted into Lagos. In a week that saw two incidents of theft from vessels at anchor, two incidents of kidnapping off vessels and one suspicious approach across the wider region, the Gulf of Guinea needed a victory. Reminiscent of the success story of the M/T Maximus in 2016, the Navies of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria again cooperated to successfully track, interdict and liberate the Hailufeng 11. Benin and Nigeria both deployed naval vessels in pursuit, and while Nigeria’s Western Naval Command performed the interdiction, the end result was born of commendable cooperation. Compared to the Maximus, however, there were five main differences: 1. The alert about the attack was raised and disseminated by local authorities; 2. The coordination was provided by the Yaoundé Architecture for Maritime Security; 3. Foreign navies were not involved, 4. Oil was not the focus of the attack; and 5. Nigeria has new legislation and procedures which may help produce a successful legal as well as operational finish. Even before the owners of the pirated vessel and Chinese government officials began notifying local authorities in a variety of African states that they believed the Hailufeng 11 had been attacked, the Vessel Monitoring System in Côte d’Ivoire’s Fisheries Ministry had triggered an alert. Ivorian Fisheries were instrumental in sharing that information with other Ivorian authorities. The Permanent Inter-Ministerial Commission for State Action at Sea (SEPCIM), in turn, shared it with the Zonal and Regional authorities who disseminated the information further. Whereas there was no communication between the owners of the Maximus and the local authorities in 2016, this weekend’s chain of events shows that there are now means of sharing information rapidly and reliably to effectuate a meaningful national, zonal, regional and even inter-regional response. Furthermore, CRESMAO – the West African regional center of ECOWAS – helped coordinate the flow of information, and CRESMAC – the Central African regional center of ECCAS – also helped monitor the situation and provide input. Finally, all of this communication was further facilitated by the Inter-Regional Coordination Center. Consequently, while the Nigerian Navy deserves credit for the operational success, there are a lot of institutions without whom the situation would not have been resolved so quickly and successfully. Source: maritime-executive.com