A chemical tanker; Hanze Kochi was attacked by pirates in Gulf of Guinea off Brass, Nigeria. A group of armed men approached the vessel in early morning by fast boat. The duty officer raised alarm for piracy attack and all the crew locked in the citadel. A distress call was sent to the Nigerian navy. The pirates boarded the ship and took control, but the navy sent two boats with guards. The pirates robbed some of the crew rooms, but had no time due to approaching navy guards. They abandoned chemical tanker Hanze Kochi some minutes later and fled to the shore. The Nigerian navy freed the vessel and crew. No injuries were reported and vessel resumed voyage to Lagos, where anchored a few hours later.
The investigation for the root cause of the accident is under way. There were no damages and injuries reported. The pirates had no time to steal much from the crew.
The chemical tanker Hanze Kochi (IMO: 9341378) was en route from Port Harcourt to Lagos, Nigeria. The vessel has overall length of 140.95 m, moulded beam of 19.60 m and maximum draft of 5.50 m. The deadweight of the tanker is 12,279 DWT and the gross tonnage is 7,446 GRT. The ship was built in 2007 by Volharding Shipyard in Hoogezand, Netherlands. The owner and operator of chemical tanker Hanze Kochi is Netherlands company Hanzevast Shipping.
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