Pirates Board Cargo Ship and Abduct One Injured Crewmember
02.06.2025
Another cargo ship has been attacked in a violent incident of piracy off the coast of West Africa between Nigeria and São Tomé and Príncipe. Details of the incident remain vague, but it is a well-known area for piracy with the authorities warning vessels to use caution while transiting the region.
An unidentified cargo ship was boarded sailing according to the official account approximately 75 nautical miles northwest of Santo Antonio in São Tomé and Príncipe. Security consultants are placing the vessel 118 nautical miles northwest of Bonny, Nigeria.
The master of the vessel which reports said is registered in Curacao was in contact with the Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade in the Gulf of Guinea (MDAT-GoG) security operation providing updates as the situation unfolded. MDAT-GoG issued an alert reporting the boarding took place Saturday, May 30 although some reports said it started on Friday, May 29.
Initial indications were that seven armed perpetrators boarded the vessel with what appeared to be guns. The majority of the crew mustered in the citadel where they were able to monitor the incident as it unfolded using the vessel’s CCTV system. The perpetrators left the vessel and by May 31 MDAT-GoG was reporting the ship had been searched and confirmed no boarders remained aboard.
One seafarer was reported injured in the incident and in the confusion, it was unclear if it was the first or second engineer. Later reports confirmed it was the second engineer who was also missing, apparently kidnapped by the perpetrators.
The chief engineer of the vessel was later located onboard. The first engineer was among the crew locked in the citadel.
An inspection of the vessel reports the perpetrators also damaged some of the equipment on the bridge. Local authorities boarded the ship to assist the crew and according to the reports were escorting the ship to a port of refuge.
Security analysts have warned that while overall piracy has declined in the Gulf of Guinea, this area has become a hotbed of piracy activity. In April, another vessel reported being boarded and the crew’s belongings and other property were taken while the perpetrators were aboard for four hours. In March, there was a report of shots fired when pirates boarded a bitumen tanker. Family members reported that 10 crewmembers were abducted from the BITU River in that incident.
Salvage Tow Begins for Maersk Ship After Three Weeks Adrift in the Atlantic
19.05.2025
Maersk is confirming that an ocean-going salvage tug reached the disabled containership Maersk Sana on May 16 and that a salvage tow is commencing. The 102,000 dwt containership (8,450 TEU) was reported by Maersk to be “safely adrift at sea” near Bermuda since being disabled on April 28.
In a brief statement, a company spokesperson said that a “tugboat arrived at the location of the Sana and is in the process of towing her to a port of refuge in the Bahamas, with an expected arrival in the last week of May. Our monitoring teams continue to track weather developments and operational progress to ensure safe and efficient handling throughout this operation.”
AIS signals show the Sea1 Ruby (3,800 dwt) reached the containership. Earlier reports said the vessel would be bringing technicians and parts. Registered in Norway, the anchor handler is operated by Sea1 Offshore, the former Siem Offshore, which changed its corporate identity in 2024. Built in 2010, Sea1 reports the vessel has 28,000 BPH and a bollard pull capability of 310 tons.
The vessel’s AIS signal shows that it is bound for Freeport in the Bahamas, a tow of approximately 900 nautical miles, which at 5 knots would take seven days. The vessel made a stop in Ponta Delgada in the Azores before reaching the Maersk Sana.
Maersk previously said that it had selected a tug from Europe as “we wanted to employ a ‘first time right’ approach,” said the spokesperson. “We had to find the right tug for this operation, not necessarily the closest tug.”
Unconfirmed reports said the vessel experienced an explosion and fire in its engine room after departing the U.S. bound for Singapore. Maersk emphasized that while the vessel was drifting, it had power and the ability to use side thrusters for maneuvering. However, it was 75 nautical miles from Bermuda.
Three crewmembers were injured during the incident with one receiving First Aid on the ship. The other two were transferred to another Maersk vessel and later evacuated to Bermuda. One was treated and released in Bermuda while the third was later airlifted to the United States for further medical treatment. Maersk reports this crewmember remains in a hospital “in stable but critical condition and is receiving the best possible care.”
Maersk has committed to investigating the incident.
Global markets rally after temporary U.S.–China trade truce
12.05.2025
The U.S. and China agreed to reduce tariffs for 90 days, pausing the trade war and boosting global stock markets. U.S. tariffs will drop from 145% to 30%, and China’s from 125% to 10%.
While markets cheered the move, uncertainty remains. Core issues like trade imbalances, subsidies, and the fentanyl crisis remain unresolved. Businesses are cautious despite the relief.
Some companies are resuming shipments but remain wary of long-term policy shifts.
The UAE Has Gulf of Aden Shipping Covered
21.04.2025
Imagery widely reported in social media has shown the deployment of an EL/M-2084 radar within the grounds of an Emirati military base at Bosaso, in Somalia’s Puntland region.
The Israeli-manufactured and widely exported EL/M-2084 radar has a 290-mile surveillance range. Mounted on a berm built for the purpose to give it extra range, the radar has the capability to detect, locate and track the full range of missile, aircraft and drone targets across the full width of the Gulf of Aden, from Aden in the west to well beyond Mukulla in the east. This is a sea area through which the currently under-used Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor passes.
Until recently this was an area in which the Houthis mounted a large number of attacks, but whether through lack of targets or the effectiveness of US air operations against the Houthis’ missile and drone infrastructure, such attacks are much diminished in recent months. Reflecting monitoring by UKMTO in Dubai, the main threat in the area now appears to come from low-level Somali-based pirates.
The EL/M-2084 is a particularly effective radar, as noted by its export success with ‘front line’ nations such as Azerbaijan, Finland, and India. Used at longer ranges for air surveillance, at shorter ranges it can be used for acquisition purposes, tied into air defense systems such as Iron Dome.
Bosaso is one of a string of Emirati light-footprint bases which the UAE maintains to cover the Gulf of Aden and approaches to the Red Sea. The presence of Emirati bases at Bosaso and at Hadibo airport on the island of Socotra is de facto acknowledged by the respective host governments. The status of recently-constructed airfields and associated possible surveillance facilities on the islands of Perim, at the southern entrance to the Red Sea and at Abd Al Kuri, is more contested.
The UAE has not formally acknowledged its military presence at any of these facilities, nor for any in North Africa. Whilst a single EL/M-2084 radar at Bosaso is effective enough on its own, if it were networked with other such systems on Perim and on Abd Al Kuri, the surveillance coverage would intersect and overlap, providing corroboration and triangulation of targets detected, and hence greater precision. However, even the best surveillance on its own is of limited value, unless linked in with systems which can respond, and there is no evidence of active air defense systems being positioned to cover these areas.
Chinese Shipping Company Wants to Lease the Former U.S. Base at Adak
15.04.2025
The head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command supports reactivating the naval airbase at Adak, a remote Cold War station in the Aleutian Islands - but the U.S. military isn't the only interested party, according to Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). An unnamed Chinese shipping company has also reached out to the current landowner to express interest in negotiating a lease, Sullivan said at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday.
Adak was a key naval base throughout the Cold War, providing a logistics and surveillance hub near Russia's eastern shores. After the Base Realignment and Closure Commission process in the mid-1990s, it was shut down, and it ceased operations in 1997. The land is now held by the native Aleut Corporation.
The port's remoteness and austerity are hard to overstate: at 1,000 nautical miles west of Anchorage, it is closer to the capital of Russia's Kamchatka region than it is Alaska's main city. It is the second-rainiest place in the United States, and is subject to extreme winds, including hurricane-force North Pacific winter storms. As of 2022 it had a population of about 150 people, down from 6,000 at its peak.
The U.S. military still holds occasional exercises at Adak, and talk of reviving the base has circulated since at least 2021. The regional security situation is changing: Over the last three years, Russian and Chinese forces have begun operating jointly in the North Pacific and Bering Sea, sometimes crossing over into the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. These transits have received considerable attention, and Adak would be a natural location for an enhanced U.S. deterrent presence, Sen. Sullivan said Thursday.
Adm. Sam Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, told the committee that he also favors reactivating Adak. "It is a further western point which would enable . . . [gaining] time and distance on any force capability that's looking to penetrate," Paparo said. "It would enable up to 10x the maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft coverage of that key and increasingly contested space."
Sullivan suggested that Adak should be reactivated as a matter of urgency, as the U.S. Navy is not the only prospective tenant.
"The Aleut Corporation, these are great patriotic Americans. Alaska Natives serve at higher rates in the military than any other ethnic group in the country. They would love to do a deal with the Navy for a 99 year lease or something like that. But you know who checks in with them once a year?" Sullivan asked. "It's a Chinese shipping company that is, certainly, in my view, a front company for the [Chinese military]. So how embarrassing would it be to the Pentagon or the Navy . . . if somehow they signed 100 year lease with a quote 'Chinese shipping company' that always is out there looking at Adak?"
Sullivan emphasized that the Aleut Corporation would never sign a port lease with a Chinese firm, but asked Paparo his opinion all the same.
"I think it would be bad, because this is the modus operandi in [China's] Belt and Road Initiative," Paparo replied.
Northern Command and Indo-Pacific Command are working on a set of options to reactivate the base, Sullivan said, and he pressed for a final report before the end of the month.