Daredevil pirates on Wednesday morning attacked an export tanker; MT Advantage Summer at 22 Nautical Miles west of Egina FPSO in offshore in Nigeria.
Advantage Summer, IMO: 9419890, MMSI: 538006307 is a Crude Oil Tanker built in 2010 and currently sailing under the flag of Marshall Islands.
Multiple notifications that were sent to Shipping Position Daily yesterday showed that the vessel reported distress for about one hour without any help in sight.
According to a ship captain, Capt James Falabi who first hinted our correspondent on the development, the piracy attack happened at Latitude 03°09.1974`N Long 006°20.3600`E .
Also, in a separate alert issued by the International Maritime Bureau (IMO) Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) on Wednesday morning, ships around 56 Nautical Miles South of Bayelsa, Gulf of Guinea were advised to maintain vigilant anti-piracy watch and measures.
In the warning alert which was forwarded to Shipping Position Daily by a ship captain, ships enroute were advised to stay off at least 250 Nautical Miles from the coast.
The IMB report says “A tanker is under attack, all crew to the citadel, further details are awaited. All vessels are advised to maintain vigilant anti-piracy watch and measures"
"Passing ships are advised to stay off at least 200 NM from coast, preferably 250 NM from coast"
"Early assessment and detection will allow ships to take evasive measures to prevent boarding and request for assistant"
"Report all attacks and suspicious sighting to local authorities and to IMB PRC as per IMO CIR 1334" it says
One of the ship captains onboard a vessel close to the location, Capt Segun Akanbi in a chat with Shipping Position Daily said that this type of warning will ruin Nigerian economy in no time.
He said the Nigerian Navy has failed in its primary purpose of establishment.
According to him, "the country doesn't care about seamen. Millions of Nigerians at sea do not have the opportunity to exercise their civic responsibility”
NIMASA is focused on ship owners and the National Seafarers Development Program (NSDP) propaganda but not burdened about the situation of existing seafarers"
Capt Segun Akanbi also indicted the Merchant Navy Senior Staff Association and the Maritime Workers Union (MWUN) saying that they do not represent seafarers’ interest.
"They don't even know anything about seafarers", he said.
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