A German containership has fought off a pirate attack using fire pumps off Nigeria.
Security consultancy Dryad Global said its sources indicated a group of gunmen approached Ahrenkiel's Steamship's 4,300-teu Rio Charleston (built 2008) in a speedboat on Wednesday.
The pirates attempted to board the vessel off Bayelsa State, 53 nautical miles (98 km) south-west of the Agbami terminal.
Dryad said five pirates were involved as the boxship headed to Onne in Nigeria from Lome in Togo.
"It is understood that the perpetrators attempted the boarding via the port side of the vessel," the consultancy added.
Evasive moves
"The vessel raised the alarm, increased speed, activated fire pumps and performed evasive manoeuvres. The assailants aborted the attempt; crew and vessel are safe."
AIS data showed the ship at anchor off Port Harcourt in Nigeria on Wednesday afternoon.
An Ahrenkiel spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment. Parent group MPC has also been contacted by TradeWinds.
Dryad advised all vessels "to maintain heightened awareness".
The outfit said this is the ninth deep offshore incident this year in the region. The waters south of Nigeria have seen the majority of these.
"This brings the total number of incidents within West Africa to 59, representing a slight increase when set against 56 incidents across the same time frame in 2019," Dryad added.
The attempted boarding also brought to an end a quieter period for piracy, with the last reported attack taking place on a general cargoship on 21 May.
This occurred 252 km south-west of Bayelsa. The vessel involved was named as the 17,400-dwt Cypriot-flagged ESL Australia (built 2007).
