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Pirates kidnap tanker crew in Gulf of Guinea

A Master and Chief Engineer were reported to have been abducted by pirates in the west African Gulf of Guinea region on New Year’s Day, off the southern coast of Cameroon.

Nick Savvides, Europe correspondent

January 3, 2024

1 Min Read
Piracy boarding
Petty Officer 1St Class Eric Bearegard / AP

Details of the boarding of the 13,000 dwt Hana I tanker, which is registered with Tuvalu, are limited, though security firm Dryad Global said the vessel was boarded around 45 nautical miles due south of the island of Bioko.

Dryad Global CEO, Corey Ranslem said: “The area is a medium risk area, but there have been no incidents there for a year,” however, he added, “I would be surprised if there wasn’t a ransom demand on the way.”

The vessel is owned by Singapore-headquartered agribusiness group which also operates a fleet of dry and liquid bulk ships.

About the Author

Nick Savvides

Europe correspondent

Experienced journalist working online, in monthly magazines and daily news coverage. Nick Savvides began his journalistic career working as a freelance from his flat in central London, and has since worked in Athens, while also writing for some major publications including The Observer, The European, Daily Express and Thomson Reuters. 

Most recently Nick joined The Loadstar as the publication’s news editor to develop the profile of the publication, increase its readership and to build a team that will market, sell and report on supply chain issues and container shipping news. 

This was a similar brief to his time at ci-online, the online publication for Containerisation International and Container News. During his time at ci-online Nich developed a team of freelancers and full-time employees increasing its readership substantially. He then moved to International Freighting Weekly, a sister publication, IFW also focused on container shipping, rail and trucking and ports. Both publications were published by Informa. 

Following his spell at Informa Nick joined Reed’s chemical reporting team, ICIS, as the chemical tanker reporter. While at ICIS he also reported on the chemical industry and spent some time on the oil & gas desk. 

Nick has also worked for a time at Lloyd’s Register, which has an energy division, and his role was writing their technical magazine, before again becoming a journalist at The Naval Architect for the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. After eight successful years at RINA, he joined Fairplay, which published a fortnightly magazine and daily news on the website.

Nick's time at Fairplay saw him win the Seahorse Club Journalist of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year 2018 awards.

After Fairplay closed, Nick joined an online US start-up called FreightWaves. 

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