Bloomsberg
By Alaric Nightingale
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Attacks globally fell to 196 from 240 in the same period last year, the London-based International Maritime Bureau said in a report today. Incidents in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and around Somalia fell to 98 from 144.
"The actions of the navies in the Gulf of Aden have been instrumental in bringing down attacks there," IMB director Pottengal Mukundan said in a statement. Incidents also fell in the first quarter.
The European Union's naval mission has adopted a "more offensive approach" to Somali assailants, hunting them down at sea before they can attack, the force's commander, Rear Admiral Jan Thornqvist of the Swedish Navy, said in June. About 20 percent of world trade passes through the Gulf of Aden, a transit point for ships navigating Egypt's Suez Canal when sailing between Asia and Europe, according to the EU.
The EU's Atalanta operation, the first naval mission ever created by the 27-nation bloc, started operating in December 2008. Thornqvist said in June he has six ships and four patrol aircraft under his command, with more ships due to arrive in August.
Combined with a North Atlantic Treaty Organization fleet, a U.S.-led fleet, as well as individual warships from countries such as Russia, China, India, Japan and Malaysia, there are about 30 warships engaged in anti-piracy missions off the Horn of Africa.
Source: Bloomsberg