Africa remains a hotspot for stowaways

Guide for dealing with stowaways

According to an article written by Lene-Camilla Nordlie of Gard, despite an overall decrease in the number of stowaway incidents reported in Africa, the continent remains the hot spots for stowaway embarkations.

Gard has recently published an updated comprehensive guide on stowaways outlining the problem, the applicable regulations, assessing the risk of stowaways, prevention at port and humane handling of stowaways found on board. In preparation of the guide, we reviewed the trends over the last several years and share our observations.

The rate of stowaway embarkations in South African ports, which historically have been considered high risk ports, has fallen. The same goes for ports in some of the West African countries. However, the port of Durban in South Africa, and West African ports such as Lagos in Nigeria, Conakry in Guinea, Dakar in Senegal, must still be treated as ports with high risk of stowaways.

It is well known that many North African countries have become major transit points for African and Arab migrants trying to reach Europe to escape war and poverty and there is a clear upward trend in the number of incidents reported from the Maghreb region of North Africa, particularly from the port of Casablanca in Morocco and Rades/Tunis in Tunisia.

Prevention starts with risk awareness

As described in the guide, the core strategy is to ensure that no unauthorized persons are able to gain access to the ship and all those who have been authorised to board, disembark before sailing. Proper access control relies on crew members who are adequately briefed about how the ship’s trading patterns affect the stowaway risk and the relevant security measures to be implemented. Once aboard, stowaways adversely affect crew wellbeing.

Crew may have to work longer hours because they also must take care of the stowaways, the Master will have to spend more time on communicating and planning for disembarkation, possible deviations and in port arrangements – and certainly, there is a significant safety element. Prevention is clearly better than cure.

The guide includes detailed advice for handling of stowaways found onboard. With security in mind, stowaways should be treated humanely including adequate food and water and medical treatment if required. Stowaways have been a risk as long as ships have sailed the seas and will remain so.

Some stowaways qualify for refugee status while others are economic migrants. For the 2023 policy year, Rule 32 which addresses cover for costs related to stowaways was amended. The wording now makes it clear that there is no difference between a refugee and an economic migrant when it comes to cover for costs.