Sunday, April 22, 2012
There were only 27 pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean from January to April, compared with 91 attacks that occurred at the same period last year. The decrease also in pirate success is due to increased use of armed security on board merchant vessels and the presence of foreign navies along the sea route.
According to the latest report by the European Union Naval Force Somalia (EUNAVFOR), the number of hijacked vessels and hostages has gone down as an overall pirate success rate. In the first quarter, the success rate of pirates dropped to 14 per cent last year compared with 27 per cent in 2010 and 28 per cent in 2009.
Still, there are currently 9 vessels and 242 hostages in the hands of pirates. In January, there were 155 hostages, which increased to 199 in February, 228 in March and 227 in April.
There were 9 unsuccessful attacks in January compared with 30 at the same time last year. The number of ships held by pirates in January last year was 32, while there were only five held by pirates at the end of January this year.
This is mainly because EUNAVFOR has conducted 150 escorts for World Food Programme (WFP) and 126 for the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom). Its mission is deterrence, prevention and repression of acts of piracy and armed robbery, the protection of vulnerable shipping and the monitoring of fishing activities off the coast of Somalia.
According to information released by the EUNAVFOR Press Officer, Timo M. Lange, the success rate for pirates has gone down due to increased compliance with the best management practices by the shipping industry, the increased use of armed security teams on board of merchant vessels and the combined actions of foreign navies at sea.
Apart from the joint European Union patrols, countries that have deployed their navies in the Indian Ocean include United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, United States, China and Philippines.