Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea remains a big problem but local laws and enforcement practices make it difficult for vessels to call at ports in the region with foreign armed guards onboard
The Club wishes to bring to Members' attention that during the recent XIX Party Congress in Beijing, the local authorities in China implemented enhanced security measures at all ports. We were aware of a number of cases where crew members were required by local authorities to surrender their mobile phones or other electronic devices for inspection when ships call at ports in China. Those inspections appeared to have been conducted at random, of if a ship was specifically identified as posing a security threat.
