OCEAN: Kidnapping in West Africa & more – 9th Dec 2025

Ahoy from BA! This is the Rorshok Ocean Update from the 9th of December twenty twenty-five. A summary of what's going down in the 70% surface of the Earth covered in saltwater.

Let’s kick off this edition with piracy. On Wednesday, the 3rd, a group of armed pirates attacked a Portuguese-flagged Liquefied Petroleum Gas carrier, about fifty nautical miles (ninety-three kilometers) off the coast of Equatorial Guinea in West Africa.

The pirates boarded the vessel and stole personal belongings. They then departed with nine kidnapped crew members, leaving four others behind, one of whom was injured and received medical care onboard. The company behind it reported that the vessel has moved to safer waters, activated its emergency response, and kept in touch with all relevant authorities.

The incident highlights the persistent kidnapping-for-ransom threat to commercial shipping in the region. The International Maritime Bureau reported fifteen incidents of armed robbery or piracy between January and September this year, recording the kidnapping of fourteen crewmembers.

While some crewmembers are kidnapped, others are released. On Wednesday the 3rd, the governments of Oman and the Philippines confirmed the release of eleven crew members from the sinking bulker Eternity C, which was attacked by Houthi forces in July.

The freed crew included Filipino, Indian, and Russian nationals. They were released in Sana'a, Yemen, and then flown safely to the capital of Oman, Muscat.

The release ends the crew’s months of captivity and marks a rare humanitarian resolution amid ongoing maritime-security risks in the Red Sea region.

In tragic news, on Saturday, the 6th, a migrant boat overturned at about twenty-six miles (forty kilometers) south of the small Greek island.

A Turkish cargo ship detected the vessel and alerted Greek authorities. The Greek coast guard and the EU border agency participated in the rescue, recovering the boat and the victims. Unfortunately, eighteen migrants drowned, but two people were rescued and taken to Crete.

The tragedy highlights the continuing danger of Mediterranean crossings for migrants, despite increased patrols and crackdowns.

In a recent update to a story from our previous show, the Gambia Maritime Administration has begun deregistering a large number of oil tankers from its registry, as part of a crackdown on Russia’s false-flag and shadow fleet vessels.

According to the Maritime AI data analytics company Windward, twenty tankers are now officially listed by the International Maritime Organization as having been falsely flagged as Gambian, while Gambia’s authority reports deflagging seventy-two vessels for fraudulent certification.

However, over 550 sanctioned vessels engaged in Russian trade are still active.

On a somewhat related note, the Group of Seven countries and the European Union are reportedly considering replacing their existing Russia oil export price cap with a comprehensive ban on Russian oil.

As part of the European Union’s new sanctions package set for early twenty twenty-six, the ban introduces the most significant maritime restriction so far on Russian crude. It aims to restrict Western maritime services such as shipping, insurance, and brokering to further cut Russia’s energy export income.

More than a third of Russia’s oil is now shipped through Western carriers, while the rest is exported via clandestine fleets. If Western maritime services shut down, Russia would have to depend even more on the unregulated shadow fleets.

Significant advances have been achieved in Red Sea shipping services. French carrier CMA CGM plans to be the first major carrier to restore a regular east–west shipping loop through the Suez Canal and Red Sea in early twenty twenty-six.

The company has already started testing transits on a few trips with less cargo onboard. The restored route will reduce transit time to seventy-seven days, about two weeks shorter than via the Cape of Good Hope.

The restoration service on the Red Sea will proceed cautiously and gradually. Full-scale container-ship traffic won’t resume until carriers are confident about crew and vessel safety.

After CMA CGM announced the following year's plan, another gunshot occurred in the Red Sea, raising fresh concerns for the region.

On Friday the 5th, a Barbados-flagged bulker reported being approached by around fifteen small skiffs approximately fifteen nautical miles (about nine kilometers) west of Yemen. These skiffs ignored the vessel’s warning broadcast via its Automatic Identification System. When the skiffs came within 1,000 feet (300 meters), the ship’s armed security team exchanged gunfire with them. The small boats circled back and tried to approach multiple times. The bulker changed course and kept on its journey.

No injuries or casualties have been reported.

Let’s turn our attention to China, as on Wednesday, the 3rd, a Chinese coastal bulker grounded and split in two amidships off the coast of Fuzhou.

The ship operating in domestic trade departed the Bohai Sea on Thursday, the 27th of November, and was transiting southbound. Chinese maritime safety authorities reported that the vessel broke apart, but no one was injured.

The ship’s Automatic Identification System signal has since disappeared, and the incident is under marine-safety investigation.

More about China, as it has deployed more than a hundred naval and coast guard vessels across East Asian waters, marking the largest maritime display of force so far.

These military exercises took place after the Japanese Prime Minister suggested that a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan might trigger a military response from Japan, and Taiwan revealed an additional forty billion dollars in defense spending to oppose China.

The deployment reportedly involves mock attacks and access-denial exercises, causing concern in neighboring Taiwan and Japan. Both countries have publicly stated that the military build-up threatens regional stability.

On the flip side, some organizations have started working together. Three Antarctic research agencies, the British Antarctic Survey, Norwegian Polar Institute, and Alfred Wegener Institute, have collaborated on a shared ice-capable vessel to resupply their respective stations over the next ten years.

The vessel allows loading containers in three cargo holds as well as on deck. Its first trip under the new agreement is planned for January twenty twenty-six.

By sharing logistics, the agencies reduce costs, ease scheduling constraints, and free up their dedicated research vessels for science missions.

In other news, Morocco is set to open a new deepwater port on the Mediterranean in the second half of twenty twenty-six and plans to launch another one on the Atlantic coast in twenty twenty-eight.

The Mediterranean port will initially provide 800 hectares (eight million square meters) for industrial use, with plans to expand later. It will also feature Morocco’s first liquefied natural gas terminal, connected by pipeline to the northwest industrial hubs.

The Atlantic port is currently under construction, designed to offer 1,600 hectares (sixteen million square meters) for industrial use and surrounded by 5,200 hectares (fifty-two million square meters) of agricultural zones irrigated with desalinated water. This port will be Morocco’s deepest, capable of supporting heavy industry processing raw materials from inland areas.

Regarding U.S. container imports, cargo volume is expected to continue to fall into twenty twenty-six.

The National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates reported that due to ongoing tariff volatility and changing trade policies, the number of Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units handled by major U.S. ports is expected to decrease for the third consecutive month. The drop reached almost 8% in October, it is projected that it will fall to almost 12% in November, and a bit below 13% in December, marking the slowest months since mid-twenty twenty-three.

Due to tariff uncertainty faced by retailers and carriers, demand has decreased, leading to a decline in container shipping rates. Forecasts show that volumes from January to April twenty twenty-six will stay significantly below twenty twenty-five levels.

Let’s close this edition with some scientific research. A new research report published on Friday, the 5th, in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, found that the number of animals and species richness decreased in regions directly affected by mining machines.

Researchers from the Natural History Museum, University of Gothenburg, and National Oceanography Centre collected 4,350 specimens across 788 species from the eastern Pacific seafloor. After comparing the worms, crustaceans, and mollusks before and after mining, they observed a 37% decline in macrofaunal density and a 32% decrease in species richness, indicating significant biodiversity loss.

The study provides the first quantitative evidence that large-scale deep-sea mining can significantly damage deep-sea ecosystems.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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See you next week!