Piracy Driving Up Shipping Costs - Africa's Dangerous Waters

While almost all the attention on and, hence, resources for combating piracy in African waters have of late been focused almost exclusively on the waters off the Somali coastline (see my most recent report on the "Return of the Somali Pirates"), a bloody attack last week is a reminder that the Gulf of Guinea on the opposite side of Africa can be equally dangerous—if not more so—even if it does not grab headlines with spectacular heists like this week's capture of the Greek supertanker MV Maran Centaurus as it was transporting more than two million barrels of oil destined for the United States.

Pirates Attack Oil Tanker Off Benin - Seaman Killed on Ship

(RTTNews) - Pirates have attacked a Monrovia-flagged oil tanker off the coast of the West African country of Benin, killing one seaman, officials said Tuesday.According to Benin's naval forces, the attack on the 230-meter long Cancale Star took place some 18 nautical miles off the country's coast. The vessel's chief engineer, a Ukrainian, was killed in the attack, which also left four other crew members injured.

Joe Cool Update - Tale of Murder on the High Seas?

The passengers are now saying that "unknown subjects" had hijacked the boat, shot and killed the four crew members and then ordered the passengers to throw the bodies into the sea.

Tale of Murder on the High Seas??

Yacht skipper’s family hopeful boaters still alive and cousin of missing captain says survivor’s hijacking-at-sea story far-fetched... ,p/> Jake Branam's website with photos of he and friends can be viewed here. Very sad to view these photos of a young man with a lot of potential. Hopefully the crew is still alive.

2nd UPDATE

3rd UPDATE

FOURTH UPDATE: PORTRAIT OF A SUSPECT

FIFTH UPDATE: BAIL HEARING POSTPONED

SIXTH UPDATE: HEARING POSTPONED

Seventh UPDATE - No bodies no confessions may make for a difficult prosecution??

Dwayne

Joe Cool - Missing Crew - What Are the Lessons that Can be Learned?? How Can Charter Boat Captains and Crew Protect Themselves??

Below is a story about the above pictured boat, The Joe Cool. This tragic story is all over the news. It remains possible that the crew who disappeared on Saturday are still alive. They may have been put off on an island or could be floating in life jackets in the Gulf Stream off the East Coast. We hope they are found safe soon. The Captain and his wife apparently have two small children that they left behind.

It is unknown presently whether there was foul play but the there is speculation that the passengers did something to the crew.

This story raises questions about how Charter Captains and Crew can keep themselves safe if their boat is chartered by passengers with criminal intent. In this age of terrorism and at times piracy one must be vigilant when taking on passengers.

If you have thoughts about how vessel owners, Captains and crews can keep themselves safe from criminal acts please share them with us.

Again we hope there has been no crime and that the Captain and his crew are found safe soon.

UPDATE

Reports in this case say that piracy off South Florida is rare to non-existent. This case, however, demonstrates how easy it is for (alleged) crimials to overpower a knowledable and sizeable crew. One must assume that the antenna of all boat captains and operators will go up following this incident and that it will not just be business as usual. Security measures on big ships like Cruise Ships is common but it seems that more must be done to protect small operators. This may be an isolated incident but one must wonder whether others may copy-cat on this incident. If these passengers did kill the crew (alleged but not proven yet) it shows how easy it would be to repeat this crime. These passengers (if they did it) did not know enough to operate the boat to their destination. If experienced operators pulled the same kind of stunt there is no telling what mischief they could do with a boat of this size. To me, this is an imporatant issue for the boating and yachting community.

From this article ( http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbcaptains0930nbsep30,0,3438134.story ) it looks like things may be changing on the docks.

Dwayne Clark