Day: July 25, 2018

The International Chamber of Commerce on 20^th July reported that the second quarterly report from the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) shows that all 2018 crew kidnappings have so far occurred in the Gulf of Guinea in 6 separate incidents.  A total of 107 incidents were reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) in the first 6 months of 2018.  In total, 69 vessels were boarded, with 23 attempted attacks, 11 vessels fired upon and four vessels hijacked.  No vessels were reported as hijacked in the second quarter.  The number of crewmembers taken hostage increased from 63 to 102 compared to 2017.  All 25 crew kidnaped reported this year have occurred over 6 incidents in the Gulf of Guinea, highlighting the higher risks in this area.

https://icc-ccs.org/index.php/1249-new-imb-report-shows-persistent-piracy-risk-in-gulf-of-guinea

The report is available at –

https://icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/request-piracy-report

RAC Plus on 24^th July reported that the Greek cooling industry has appealed to its government to act to stop the huge trade in illegal refrigerants, which they say poses a triple threat; to the environment; to the Greek economy and to public safety.  It is said that the gas is being brought in by a wide variety of illegal means through countries such as Albania, Macedonia, Turkey and Bulgaria.  The refrigerant, which is either imported with counterfeit documentation or is carried in illegal disposable cylinders, is costing Greece at least €20 million in lost taxes, as well as making a mockery of the system of bans and reducing quotas to which the rest of Europe adheres.  Even though Bulgaria is an EU member state, it is said to be acting as a gateway to illegal imports from other third-party countries.

https://www.racplus.com/news/greece-seeks-urgent-action-over-growth-in-f-gas-refrigerant-smuggling/10033459.article