BIMCO says “enough is enough”
Kaptanoglu urges international anti-piracy effort in the Gulf of Guinea.
Sadan Kaptanoglu, ship owner and president of BIMCO, has called upon the international community to tackle piracy in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG). While lauding Nigeria’s anti-piracy efforts, she says more must be done and asks for a multilateral approach to tackle the problem.
“Of course the Nigerian government and Nigeria as a country are trying their best… but so far this is not enough,” Kaptanoglu told the Slide2 Open ship finance conference broadcasting from Athens.
“We have a success story in the Gulf of Aden”, said Kaptanoglu. She believes that dealing with the problem in the GoG would not require a large investment and could easily be monitored.
Nigeria’s Maritime Administration and Safety Agency and the Nigerian Navy are close to launching the Deep Blue Project, a program to tackle piracy in the region, according to Lagos-based Vanguard newspaper.
Last year 136 seafarers were kidnapped in the West African maritime area, according to Dryad Global’s annual report and the problem of maritime crime has worsened in recent months.
“Now they start shooting at people,” Kaptanoglu said in the conference on 16 March.
