Piracy at its lowest in 28 years, but there’s no room for complacency
OVER the past 30 or so years, the threat of piracy has been an ever-present curse on the international shipping industry. At times, attacks were so frequent that global trade was disrupted and, in the Indian Ocean, the world’s navies intervened.
While there have been dramatic peaks in attacks and then comparative lulls, the threat of piracy has remained in several areas of the world. Since 1991, the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) has provided a point of contact to report all crimes of maritime piracy and armed robbery, 24 hours a day. There is no doubt its prompt forwarding of reports, and liaison with response agencies, broadcasts to shipping via GMDSS Safety Net Services and e-mail alerts — all provided free of cost — has sharpened the response against piracy and armed robbery globally.
The good news is that the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) received the lowest number of reported incidents for the first half of any year since 1994. The bad news: Piracy hasn’t disappeared, althought the overall picture is improving.
IMB’s latest global piracy report details 58 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the first 6 months of 2022 – down from 68 incidents over the same period last year. The 58 incidents comprised 55 vessels boarded, 2 attempted attacks and 1 vessel hijacked.
IMB Director Michael Howlett said: “Not only is this good news for the seafarers and the shipping industry, it is positive news for trade, which promotes economic growth.”
He is absolutely right, but those figures should still be unacceptable. He added: “But the areas of risk shift and the shipping community must remain vigilant. We encourage governments and responding authorities to continue their patrols, which create a deterrent effect.”
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Not surprisingly, the IMB PRC continues to caution against complacency – vessels were boarded in 96 per cent of the reported incidents. Despite no crew kidnappings having been reported during this period, violence against and the threat to crews continues; 23 crew were taken hostage and another 5 threatened.
The Gulf of Guinea remains a real area of concern. Of the 58 incidents reported to IMB, 12 were in the Gulf of Guinea, 10 of which were defined as armed robberies and the remaining 2, as piracy. In early April, a Panamax bulk carrier was attacked and boarded by pirates 260 nautical miles off the coast of Ghana. As IMB warns: “This illustrates that, despite a decrease in reported incidents, the threat of Gulf of Guinea piracy and crew kidnappings remains.”
That particular incident turned out to be an example of effective anti-piracy action. IM notes that, on being notified of the incident, IMB PRC immediately alerted and asked for assistance from the regional authorities and international warships. An Italian Navy warship and its helicopter responded and instantly intervened, saving the crew and enabling the vessel to proceed to a safe port under escort.
Nevertheless, in May, the UN Security Council flagged the gulf as the world piracy hotspot.
Closer to home, vessels continue to be targeted and boarded by local perpetrators in the Singapore Strait. These account for over a quarter of all incidents reported globally since the start of the year. The perpetrators successfully boarded the vessels in all 16 incidents reported. IMB cautions: “While considered low-level opportunistic crimes, crews continue to be at risk, with weapons reported in at least six incidents.”
This chimes with the first quarter 2022 report from Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). It noted continued occurrence of incidents in Singapore Strait, with 18 incidents in the quarter, up from 7 in the first quarter of 2021. It also noted that the threat in the Sulu-Celebes Seas remained “potentially high”, and called for continued vigilance.
The Indonesian archipelago has seen a slight increase in reported incidents for the first time since 2018, said IMB, with 7 incidents reported, compared to 5 over that same period last year. Five vessels were boarded at anchor and one each while the vessels were at berth and steaming. Weapons were reported in at least 3 incidents, with one crew reported threatened.
Meanwhile, IMB observes that although no incidents were reported there since the start of the year, the threat of piracy still exists in the waters off the southern Red Sea and in the Gulf of Aden, which include the Yemeni and Somali coasts. It says that the opportunity for incidents has reduced, but the Somali pirates continue to possess the capability and capacity to carry out incidents.
Returning to the threat off the Gulf of Guinea, the Nigerian and various global shipping stakeholders have launched a strategy to end piracy and armed robbery there. Announced last week, the strategy establishes a mechanism to periodically assess the effectiveness of country-piracy initiatives and commitments in the area. Targeted at all stakeholders operating in the region, it is intended to identify areas of improvement and reinforcement in order to eliminate piracy.
According to a statement, the plan is split into 2 “mutually supportive sections”. The first envisages actions which can be overseen by the Nigerian Industry Working Group (NIWG); the second involves actions which require engagement with other regional and international partners. The strategic ambition of the coalition is to eliminate piracy in the gulf, to secure trade routes, reassure traversing crews, and support local communities.
The newly launched strategy was developed by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), BIMCO, Intertanko, Intercargo, Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF), and representatives of the Nigerian Navy and NIMASA, together making up the NIWG.
This initiative is welcome, but it also signals the grim reality that piracy has not gone away. There is still a lot of work to do.
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