The crew of a Contships Management boxship attacked by pirates off Nigeria have thwarted the attack, but the manager is calling for armed guards to be allowed on board to save lives.
Contact was lost with the 1,100-teu Contship New (built 2007) on Friday, 230 nautical miles (426 km) south-west of Bonny in Nigeria.
The ship was boarded, but its crew retreated to the citadel.
Contships told TradeWinds that no personnel were abducted.
The company said the seafarers "reacted extremely well due to their training".
"The potential hijackers left the vessel after severe damages on the bridge and accommodation, including gunning and stealing equipment etc," Contships said.
"All crew are safe and with the assistance of the Italian frigate Luigi Rizzo, Contship New resumed safely her passage to Lome. The frigate operated further to trace the pirates."
The Greek manager believes the situation needs to "drastically change" if future incidents are to be prevented.
The company said the hijackers are operating over a wider area and the number of incidents is increasing.
The Standard P&I Club said armed guards in Nigeria can only be arranged via the Nigerian navy.
Plea for more security
"Armed guards must now be allowed on board to safeguard the crew, ship and cargo, and the authorities need to permit this without any further delay which endangers human life," Contships said.
Maritime security company Dryad had reported two sightings of boats suspected of involvement in piracy on 21 April.
One was tracked into Nigerian waters nine nautical miles east of the Sea Eagle terminal. No further reports were received on the second vessel, which was sighted 26 nautical miles south-east of the attack on the Contship New.
On 21 April, UK and French naval piracy reporting body Maritime Domain Awareness for Trade — Gulf of Guinea had warned that the piracy threat was rising again after a quiet period.
Shipowners had been warned to be extra vigilant off Togo, Benin and Nigeria.
Security company Africa Risk Compliance (ARC) said there had not been a piracy attack for over a month in West Africa at that point, and no seafarers were currently held by pirates, so it was likely that gangs would attempt an attack.
On 15 April, 15 seafarers taken hostage from a De Poli Tankers ship were released.
