Dryad Global’s latest Maritime Security Threat Advisory (MTSA, released August 15th) has warned that there was now a “pirate problem” in the Gulf of Mexico.
the Gulf of Mexico is in the midst of a pirate problem.
On August 7th pirates on two speedboats boarded and robbed a manned semisubmersible drilling rig in the Bay of Campeche, bordered by Eastern Mexico, about 28nm north of Paraiso. Then on August 10th a vessel was approached by suspected pirates when transiting inbound to Puerto Dos Bocas.
Dryad said that there had been “an increase in the cadence of incidents” in the Gulf of Mexico, with six maritime events within the Bay of Campeche alone since May 22nd. Three supply vessels have been attacked, along with three oil platforms. The pirates had previously focused on unmanned assets, but recently the pirates have been willing to board vessels or oil platforms when people are on board.
A recent MSTA said that pirates attacked five Pemex satellite platforms in the Cantarell Productive Field in the Bay of Campeche of the GoM on July 16th.
The Bay of Campeche, way south of the US coast, was currently the epicentre of maritime crime and piracy in the Gulf, the MSTA said.
Dryad also warned that there was believed to be a significant degree of under-reporting of incidents within the GoM.
