On the evening of Saturday 25 March 2023, the Danish ship “Monjasa Reformer”, flying the Liberian flag and belonging to the shipowner Monjasa, was attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, when it was 140 nautical miles off the coast of Congo. The tanker with 16 crew members on board, of different nationalities except Danish, took refuge in the “citadel”, the security room of the ship.
Photo : Anne H. Steffensen, CEO of Danish Shipping
According to Anne H. Steffensen, CEO of Danish Shipping: “The serious and unfortunate incident with the Monjasa Reformer unfortunately shows that the piracy problems in West Africa are far from being resolved. Our thoughts are first and foremost with the crew on board and their loved ones back home, and we are working with Monjasa and the relevant authorities in Denmark and the region to resolve the situation and bring the seafarers home safely.
“The current situation clearly shows that most countries in the region do not have the resources or capacity to respond to such an incident. We should therefore also consider what smaller contributions Denmark could make to improve training or surveillance while our warships are busy elsewhere,” said Anne H. Steffensen.
“We fully understand that with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Denmark’s naval capacity is needed elsewhere. But as the piracy problem in West Africa has not been solved, we have to find other solutions. Ships from several countries are constantly in the region, including several European countries. Therefore, the EU countries in particular should coordinate their presence much more closely in order to cover this vast area in the best possible way,” she added.
