MT Heroic Idun incident

Did You Know?

• The plea bargain forced the vessel to plead guilty to unauthorized entry, dropping all charges against the 26 individual crew members.
• The settlement required a formal public apology published in Lloyd's List and Nigerian newspapers.
• The case highlighted gaps in war risk insurance, as insurers denied coverage because the detention resulted from governmental law enforcement actions rather than piracy or war.

Background

The MT Heroic Idun is a Very Large Crude Carrier built in 2020 and registered in the Marshall Islands, with an IMO number of 9858058. It has a deadweight tonnage of 299,995 tonnes and a gross tonnage of 156,237 tonnes, measuring 336 metres in length and 60 metres in beam. The vessel is owned by Idun Maritime Limited, based in the Isle of Man, with technical management by OSM Ship Management AS. Its crew of 26 included 16 Indian nationals, along with Sri Lankan, Filipino, and Polish sailors.

The incident

In August 2022, the tanker Heroic Idun was detected by Nigeria's Falcon Eye surveillance system inside a restricted zone of the Akpo oilfield. Nigerian authorities stated the vessel lacked required permission from the country's oil regulators. The Nigerian Navy ship NNS Gongola intercepted it shortly after midnight on August 8, but the crew refused inspection and fled south, exiting Nigerian waters. During its escape, the crew sent a distress call to the International Maritime Bureau, alleging a pirate attack. The Navy rejected this claim, calling it a false account of a routine law enforcement stop.

Arrest and detention

In August 2022, Equatorial Guinea's navy forced a tanker from the waters near São Tomé and Príncipe to its own Luba Anchorage. The crew was kept for three months, with fifteen members taken ashore to Malabo. The ship's owners paid a fine of about two million euros for entering illegally, but the vessel stayed seized. That November, the ship and crew were turned over to Nigeria, where they were held at Bonny anchorage under armed guard. Health and morale suffered, with reports of malaria, typhoid, and psychological strain.

Legal proceedings

The Nigerian government indicted the vessel and crew on three counts under the Suppression of Piracy and Other Maritime Offences (SPOMO) Act, 2019: attempting to export crude oil without authorization, disobeying naval orders, and raising a false piracy alarm. On 10 November 2022, the Marshall Islands filed an application for prompt release at ITLOS against Equatorial Guinea, but because the vessel was illegally transferred to Nigeria the following day, the proceedings were discontinued on 15 November 2022.