Piracy hits new highs, but more ships are escaping
October 19, 2011
Piracy on the world’s seas has risen to record levels, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reveals today in its latest global piracy report.
The report says Somali pirates were behind 56% of the 352 attacks reported so far this year, but more hijack attempts are being thwarted by strengthened anti-piracy measures.
“Figures for piracy and armed robbery at sea in the past nine months are higher than we’ve ever recorded in the same period of any past year,” said Pottengal Mukundan, Director of the IMB.
Demanding millions of dollars in ransom for captured ships and their crews, Somali pirates are intensifying operations not just off their own coastline, but further afield in the Red Sea – particularly during the monsoon season in the wider Indian Ocean.
With unprecedented boldness, in August, pirates also boarded and hijacked a chemical tanker at anchor in an Omani port under the protection of state security.
But although Somali pirates are initiating more attacks – 199 this year, up from 126 for the first nine months of 2010 – they are managing to hijack fewer vessels, says the report.
Only 24 have been hijacked this year, compared with 35 in 2010. And hijackings were successful in just 12% of all attempts this year, down from 28% last year.
The bureau credits this reduction in hijackings to “policing and interventions by international naval forces, correct application of the industry’s latest best management practice – including the careful consideration of the crews’ retreat to a ‘citadel’ – and other onboard security measures”.
Mukundan said: “Somali pirates are finding it harder to hijack ships and get the ransom they ask for. The navies deserve to be complimented on their excellent work: they are a vital force in deterring and disrupting pirate activity.”
The report says the West African coast off Benin is seeing a surge in violent piracy, with 19 attacks leading to eight vessel hijackings this year – there was none in 2010.
In response, Benin has begun joint naval patrols with neighbouring Nigeria, another piracy hot spot.
Piracy and armed robberies in Asian waters, including the Indian subcontinent, are down from 106 in the first three quarters of 2010 to 87 in the same period this year.
