Somalia Ship Hijacks Reach Nine-Year Low on Armed Guards, Navies

Wednesday Janaury 15, 2014

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Pirate hijackings of merchant ships in waters off Somalia fell to a nine-year low in 2013 as security measures including the use of armed guards helped deter and repel attacks on a trade route linking Europe to Asia.

Somali pirates hijacked two ships last year, down from 14 in 2012, the International Maritime Bureau, a London-based group tracking sea crime, said in a report today. Last year’s tally was the smallest since 2004, when there were none, data from the bureau show. The total number of attacks by Somali pirates fell 80 percent to 15.

Shipping companies are seeing the results of efforts to safeguard vessels sailing near Africa’s east coast from hijackings. Piracy has declined because of the intervention of international navies, better on-board security, the use of private armed guards and greater stability in Somalia itself, according to the IMB.

“Ship transits in the region have been applying the best management practices effectively, which deters pirates from attacking,” Giles Noakes, chief maritime security officer at the Baltic and International Maritime Council in Bagsvaerd, Denmark, the world’s largest shipping association, said before the report was released. “Some of the more risky vessels have been used with armed guards.”

The drop in attacks near Africa’s eastern shores is being countered by a gain in strikes off the continent’s western coast. Pirates took 49 people hostage and kidnapped 35 off Nigeria, the most since 2008.

The total number of pirate attacks worldwide dropped to 264 last year, the lowest in six years, the IMB report showed.

“The single biggest reason for the drop in worldwide piracy is the decrease in Somali piracy off the coast of East Africa,” IMB director Pottengal Mukundan, said in today’s report.

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