Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the security situation for shipping in the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa.

A key flag state responsibility, as required by The International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, is assessing risk and advising shipping operators on the threat to maritime interests and setting the most appropriate security level for those threats. The DfT takes this responsibility seriously and constantly assesses high threat areas and monitors other regions as to the current threat environment.

The Gulf of Guinea is a high threat area. Piracy, armed robbery, kidnap for ransom and hijack, often violent, continue to threaten shipping in the region. In 2019, DfT raised the ISPS code security level for British shipping in a defined area of Nigeria’s Economic Exclusive Zone to reflect the security threat posed by piracy and armed criminality. This obliges shipping operators to enact higher security measures and follow industry best management practice to protect their ships. DfT works closely with partners in the FCDO and the Ministry of Defence to monitor and continually review the types of incidents occurring and their locations. To date, we still assess that our current security assessment of the risk posed to shipping in the Gulf of Guinea, and our security posture and advice to industry, is appropriate for this high-risk area.