German-owned containership attacked by pirates off Guinea

A containership owned and operated by Germany’s Schulte Group was boarded by pirates off the West African country of Guinea on Friday, February 14.

The Marshall Islands-flagged Maersk Tema was underway at 20 knots en route to Lagos, Nigeria, when two speedboats approached it at approximately 08:05 UTC on Friday.

A Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) spokesman confirmed that the crew then initiated emergency procedures, slowing the vessel to 3.5 knots and alerting Portuguese and Nigerian authorities to the attack.

Two pirates then boarded Maersk Tema as the containership’s entire crew of 21 locked themselves up in the citadel. The perpetrators eventually left though it remains unclear whether they took anything of value with them.

Nigerian news outlets have reported that the containership has since resumed its journey to Lagos with a Portuguese Navy ship and a patrol vessel owned by Nigerian maritime security company Admiral Offshore providing escort.