About two weeks after daredevil pirates attacked a cargo ship; MV Four Seas SW off Lagos coast, the ill-fated ship is yet to berth at the Lagos Port, for reasons which sources explained as lack of berthing space, the state of mind of the embattled crew and the status of the ship itself.
The two most senior officers on board the ship were killed by pirates in the early hours of Monday February 13 at the now-notorious Lagos Anchorage when fully armed pirates boarded the ship.
About two weeks after daredevil pirates attacked a cargo ship; MV Four Seas SW off Lagos coast, the ill-fated ship is yet to berth at the Lagos Port, for reasons which sources explained as lack of berthing space, the state of mind of the embattled crew and the status of the ship itself.
The two most senior officers on board the ship were killed by pirates in the early hours of Monday February 13 at the now-notorious Lagos Anchorage when fully armed pirates boarded the ship.
The corpses of the Captain and the Chief Engineer who were killed in the attack have been in a mortuary in Lagos since, but Shipping Position Daily confirmed last weekend that the remains of the Chief Engineer; a Indian was cremated last weekend after a sober ceremony at an undisclosed facility.
The remains of the Captain who was a Sri Lankan would also be taken home any moment from now.
Out of the two ships; only MV Asian Prosperity has been able to secure berthing, finished discharge and sailed out of Lagos harbour. She was also riddle with gunshots by the pirates who stole crew’s valuables.
The other; Four Seas SW is still listed as ‘awaiting berth’ by the Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA) as at last Friday.
A source close to the ships’ agents; Unicent Shipping told Shipping Position Daily that arrangements had been concluded to fly replacements in for the late Captain and Chief Engineer.
“The ship can not even sail into the berth in her present state, there is no captain, no chief engineer, so who takes responsibilities”, he stated.
According to the source, “the crew are not even in the right frame of mind since the unfortunate incident, they have remained on board, but they are still in shock”.
“It is not so much as a result of lack of berthing space, but more because we have to get replacements for the captain and the chief engineer who will be responsible for sailing the ship into harbour and also sailing her back”.
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the serial attacks on laden ships has already earned Nigeria anther round of “maritime security alert” as ship owners have been warned to be extra careful before deploying their ships to Nigeria.
Joining the IMB in the alert, another global maritime security organisation; AKE GAC, warned ship operators “to exercise caution in the region where offshore attacks are on the increase. Piracy attacks up to, and possibly over, 100NM from the West African coast should be expected over the coming weeks.”
The global private maritime security watch dog also advised that: “General crew alertness, combined with vessel hardening, evasive manouvres, and the availability of a properly secured citadel will significantly reduce the chances of a successful attack.”
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