The number of pirate attacks worldwide has fallen in the first half of 2013. However, maritime officials are warning that the waters off West Africa are growing more dangerous.
International Maritime Bureau Director Pottengal Mukundan highlighted the findings of the latest piracy report.
"We have had 138 incidents compared to 177 incidents for the same period in 2012. This is largely because of the reduction in the attacks off the Horn of Africa, which accounted previously for around 50 percent of the worldwide attacks," he said.
The number of pirate attacks worldwide has fallen in the first half of 2013. However, maritime officials are warning that the waters off West Africa are growing more dangerous.
International Maritime Bureau Director Pottengal Mukundan highlighted the findings of the latest piracy report.
"We have had 138 incidents compared to 177 incidents for the same period in 2012. This is largely because of the reduction in the attacks off the Horn of Africa, which accounted previously for around 50 percent of the worldwide attacks," he said.
The reduction is due to a number of reasons, including the international effort that's been underway off the Horn of Africa. That's dealt a major blow to Somali pirates.
"The invaluable roll played by the navies in these waters in collecting intelligence – in pursuing suspected mother ships — interdicting them – and dealing with them before they can pose a threat to merchant shipping. That is a role which is unique to the navies. No one else can play that role," he said.
He also credited a specific code of conduct that vessels now follow when sailing through risky areas – an increase in private security guards on board ships – and an overall improvement in security within Somalia.
"It is the role played by the new government in Somalia, which has been there since September 2012, which has given for the first time in decades a feeling of stability and security within Somalia itself. And if that continues, then it will make it very difficult for the pirates to have a safe haven to take their hijacked vessels to," he said.
Mukundan said that while progress is being made against piracy off the Horn of Africa, things continue to worsen on the other side of the continent.
"The two main risk areas on the West Coast of Africa [are] the hijacking of product tankers as far away as Ivory Coast in order to steal a small portion of the cargo – usually two to five thousand tons of oil. And in that time the crew are subject to a certain degree of violence. The second disturbing trend in the Gulf of Guinea is the kidnapping of crew members from their vessels," he said.
The crew members abducted in the Gulf of Guinea are usually released after about six weeks when ransom is paid. That compares to crews abducted off the Horn of Africa who may be held for as long as two years. Mukundan has called on West African nations to act.
"These kinds of crimes can be dealt with proper law enforcement actions taken by the coastal states, particularly Nigeria. They have already put a few gangs – they have caught them and they are now on trial in Nigeria. But clearly more needs to be done," he said.
The International Maritime Bureau Director warned against complacency following success in reducing pirate attacks. Mukundan says that would be disastrous for international shipping and crew members.
“There has been a worrying trend in the kidnapping of crew from vessels well outside the territorial limits of coastal states in the Gulf of Guinea,” said Pottengal Mukundan, Director of IMB. “In April 2013, nine crew members were kidnapped from two container vessels, one of which was 170 nautical miles from the coast… There continues to be significant under-reporting of attacks – a phenomenon highlighted by the IMB year on year. This prevents meaningful response by the authorities and endangers other vessels sailing into the area unaware of the precise nature of the threat.”
Armed pirates in the Gulf of Guinea took 56 sailors hostage and were responsible for all 30 crew kidnappings reported so far in 2013. One person was reported killed and at least another five injured. Attacks off Nigeria accounted for 22 of the region’s 31 incidents and 28 of the crew kidnappings.
Mukundan however, applauded the signing of the Code of Conduct Concerning the Repression of Piracy, Armed Robbery Against Ships, and Illicit Maritime Activity in West and Central Africa last month by the heads of the West and Central African countries.
Discussion about this post