A Knutsen OAS Shipping LNG carrier was the target of an unsuccessful attack by armed assailants off western Africa amid a rising tide of piracy off Nigeria's key ports.
Pirates in a skiff fired shots at the 176,000-cbm La Mancha Knutsen (built 2016) while it was in the Gulf of Guinea, according to Spanish daily El Comercio, which cited sources in Spain's Defence Ministry. TradeWinds could not immediately reach Norway's Knutsen to confirm the attack.
The pirates were unsuccessful in the apparent boarding attempt and there were no injuries or vessel damage as a result of the incident.
Heart of pirate attacks
Satellite tracking data from VesselsValue show the Norwegian-flagged ship is currently moored off Nigeria's Bonny Island, a key LNG and crude export site that is in a region of rising piracy.
The International Maritime Bureau, whose Piracy Reporting Centre tracks attacks around the world, includes the key LNG export says there has been a "noticeable increase" in attacks, hijackings and crew kidnappings around Bonny, Brass, Bayelsa and Port Harcourt - all in the heart of Nigeria's energy export corridor.
'Additional measures'
"Vessels are advised to take additional measures in these high risk waters," the IMB warns.
So far, IMB has reported four such attacks of Nigeria this year alone in data that do not yet include the attack on La Mancha Knutsen.
The attack on the LNG carrier emerges a day after the TradeWinds reported that shots were fired at the 56,719-dwt bulker Sofia (built 2011), which is owned by Goldenport Shipmanagement.
