Loss Prevention Advice
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Maritime Security Threat Advisory highlights critical developments, from piracy activity in the Gulf of Guinea to innovative drone-based security threats.
Gulf of Guinea: Piracy on the rise
According to Dryad Global, piracy incidents in the Gulf of Guinea have surged by 30% in 2025, underlining the region’s persistent security challenges. On May 30th, the cargo vessel ORANGE FROST was boarded by armed attackers near São Tomé and Príncipe. The crew’s citadel response mitigated casualties, but one engineer is missing and presumed kidnapped. This incident follows a similar April boarding of the SEA PANTHER off Nigeria, suggesting a troubling trend of pirate activity and targeted equipment theft in the region.
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The Atlantic hurricane season starts on 1 June and ends on 30 November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts an above-normal 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. NOAA is forecasting 13 to 19 storms with winds of 39 mph (34 knots) or higher. Out of these, 6 to 10 could become hurricanes with winds of 74 mph (64 knots) or higher, and 3 to 5 might be major hurricanes with winds of 111 mph (96 knots) or higher.
BEST PRACTICES FOR SHIPS SAILING ATLANTIC IN HURRICANE SEASON
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Over the past week, 27 May-3 June, six incidents of armed robbery against ships in Asia (two CAT 2 incidents, one CAT 3 incident and three CAT 4 incidents).
The incidents occurred in Bangladesh (1), Indonesia (1), Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS) (2), and Vietnam (2). Five incidents occurred onboard bulk carriers and one incident onboard a container ship. One crew member sustained a minor head injury. No injuries were reported in the other five incidents.
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A fatal injury of a crewmember due to the tipping over of a vertically stowed stack of steel plate.
What happened?
Several steel plates measuring approximately 300cm x 130cm x 1cm and a total mass of approx.1800 kg were stowed in a vertical position in a corner of a steering gear room of a ship. The plates were used as material blanks for the on-board production of spare parts. To prevent the plates from tipping over, the stock of plates leaning against a railing was fixed in place with a steel cross strut mounted horizontally at waist height. The two ends of the cross brace, which served as an anti-tip device, were each pushed onto a threaded rod welded to the railing and locked in place with a nut. Opposite the stack of plates was a wall shelf at a distance of approx. one meter.
On the day of the accident, one plate was to be removed from the plate supply for a repair assignment. In order to handle the heavy plates, several crewmembers were required. As these crewmembers still had work to do on deck, only one crewmember initially went into the steering gear room and made preparations for the upcoming work assignment. In this context, he already disassembled the anti-tip device. As a result, the plate stack lost its “stability” and felt against the wall shelf. The crew member standing between the stack of plates and the wall shelf was caught by the stack of plates and pressed against the wall shelf at abdominal level. The accident victim suffered fatal injuries.