There are fresh indications of a spike in attacks on ships at berth at the Federal Ocean Terminal (FOT) and the Federal Lighter Terminal (FLT); both in Onne port, Rivers State, raising concerns about the level of Nigeria's compliance to the International Ships and Ports Facility (ISPS) Code.
A public notice widely circulated by vessel captains in Onne last week and forwarded to Shipping Position Daily by Capt James Falabi indicated that, there has been an upsurge in ship burgling and other criminal activities in the last couple of weeks.
Giving an insight in to the plight of ships and crew, the report stated clearly that, criminals gain access to vessels at berth by using fast speed boats and sometimes with canoes fitted with outboard engines. The report also added that criminals and cart away drums of paints, crew coveralls with which they disguise to rob elsewhere as well as other valuable ship items, including sensitive information materials.
The public notice which made the rounds in the maritime industry last week explained that the Nigerian Navy responded to distress calls in some cases and did arrest some of the hoodlums, while many often escaped to stage a comeback.
The apparently distraught vessel Captains warned that, "vessel management are expected to post adequate watch keepers at night and maintain proper lookout, not discountenancing good and live communication means. Whilst in port, all visitors must be logged by the watch keeper, ID cards confirmed, visitor is tagged and bridge informed before entry is granted"
"If the vessel is sailing, have adequately-trained security personnel onboard, if you cannot afford the luxury of escort boat. Create a safe haven or citadel onboard and educate your crew on proper use of this facility in the event of emergency".
"Train your personnel on prompt reporting of any noticeable security breaches. Maritime security is a serious business, just one incident could have devastating impact on your one year profile", the public notice added further.
Confirming this to Shipping Position Daily, President of Nigerian Shipowners Association (NISA), Alhaji Aminu Umar said the attack is not new, saying that the situation has been ongoing for about three years.
According to Alhaji Umar, every ship going towards south of Escravos usually goes with its own security, or else they get attacked.
The NISA President on his part said that ships that do not have security men are the one that get attacked.
He said "It is unfortunate but that is the situation we found ourselves"
He questioned the implementation of the ISPS Code by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) as some jetties still remained porous.
"In terms of implementation of ISPS, the fact is that our ships are not safe, so we have to take security anytime we are going to any of the ports outside the south of the Escravos, I don't know what they (NIMASA) are implementing"
"There are many terminals that are 90 percent compliant, but there are many terminals that are without security, your vessel gets attacked, they use row boats to come onboard, if you are at the jetty. So I don't know about the implementation of their ISPS Code, security situation at most of the jetties is not something that is there", he alleged.
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