Pirated Oil Tanker Safe and Sound at Takoradi Port, Ghana

Greek oil tanker MT Fair Artemis, hijacked by pirates off Ghana’s waters in June this year, has finally berthed at the Takoradi Port to offload oil, according to the Director-General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Mr. Richard Anamoo.

He said the pirates siphoned 3,500 metric tonnes of crude oil from the Liberia-flagged vessel, managed by Fairdeal Group S.A, into another vessel and headed to Benin to sell it, however; shortly after they were arrested by the security agencies in that country.

The Director-General of GPHA led a delegation including the Western Regional Minister, Mr. Paul Evans Aidoo and his deputy, Mr. Alfred Ekow Gyan, the Director of Takoradi Port, Captain James Owusu Koranteng and some port officials to visit the recovered vessel, which was anchored at the breakwaters, Ghana News Agency (GNA) writes.

MT Fair Artemis was confirmed missing by Noel Choong, the head of IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre based in Kuala Lumpur in June this year, after the master of the ship called the Tema Port to announce the hijacking of the vessel by pirates.

“The ship was boarded by a number of pirates who have stolen the cargo and other items on the vessel,” Fairdeal fleet director John Gray said in a statement. Nevertheless, the incident had no fatalities as all on board were reported safe.

Based on IMB’s data, 19 per cent of pirate attacks in 2013, totalling in 51 took place in West Africa, with nearly 60 per cent of them being conducted by Nigerian pirates.

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Press Release, August 11, 2014; Image: Fairdeal