For the month of May 2015 the majority of the incidents occurred in the Malacca Strait where 12 incidents of maritime piracy and/or armed robbery took place involving various types of vessels. In South China Sea 5 incidents occurred with 3 dry cargo vessels and 2 product tankers. In West Africa 3 incidents were reported, the same figure with Indian Ocean. It is worth noting that no incident was reported in the East African area.
On 29 April 2014 two armed pirates attacked the product tanker, SP Brussels approximately 35nm West of Bayelsa Province, unfortunately this attack resulted in the death of the Chief Engineer and injuries to the Third Officer. Two product tankers were hijacked in April 2014 in the Malacca/Singapore Straits. In both the attacks the pirates were heavily armed. Five incidents were reported in April 2014 at Pulau Bitan, Indonesia. Several attacks took place in the Singapore Straits in 2013 and 2014. Finally the EU NAVFOR warship, FGS Brandenburg managed to intercept a dhow in the Gulf of Aden on 26 April 2014.
Incidents off the West African coast are currently slightly higher than in Southeast Asia, a position last held by West Africa in 2008, the year in which a total of 39 crew members were kidnapped for ransom off various vessels mostly in the oil industry in Nigeria. Up until the date this report is being published the areas of maritime piracy related incidents worldwide are as follows:
A shift in US foreign policy based both on changes to the threat landscape and improving domestic energy security could lead to an increase in threats to shipping within eighteen months according to David Hunkin of Dryad Maritime Intelligence. With the US strategic focus now firmly fixed on the Asia Pacific region and Iran ‘coming in from the cold’, it is only a matter of time before western navies begin withdrawing the warships that have been so successful in suppressing piracy.
Incidents off the West African coast are currently slightly higher than in Southeast Asia, a position last held by West Africa in 2008, the year in which a total of 39 crew members were kidnapped for ransom off various vessels mostly in the oil industry in Nigeria. Up until the date this report is being published the areas of maritime piracy related incidents worldwide are as follows:
During January 2014 piracy activity increased in West Africa with the Oil Tanker Kerala hijacking taking place as far south as Luanda, Angola. From the four kidnappings that were reported during last month, the three of them took place in Nigeria while one occurred in Equatorial Guinea. On the other hand attacks (mostly robberies) in Southeast Asia were down in January 2014 from December 2013. Up until the date this report is being published the areas of maritime piracy related incidents worldwide are as follows:
There is difference between anti-piracy and counter-piracy. Anti-piracy is about elimination; medium to long-term perspective, strategic, national, regional and international character, in other words it is a ”pipe dream”, cannot be done. Counter- piracy is about containment; short term and medium term, tactical, operational, private, national, regional and international character. This presentation/article is about counter-piracy policies and initiatives. When it comes to East Africa, believe it or not, 99.5% of the funds spent on counter-piracy go to counter-piracy operations.
It is known in the Maritime Security industry that Somali pirates use hijacked merchant ships, fishing vessels and dhows as ‘Motherships’ in order to operate at extreme range from Somalia, carrying attack craft (skiffs) and weapons. NATO has received reports of Somali pirates using common local ships in piracy attacks. They will board the ship and hold the original crew hostage. A local ship enables the pirates to blend in among the boating traffic and present itself as a fishing or trading vessel.
During the 3rd annual SAFETY4SEA forum held in Athens in October 2012, Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor of SAFETY4SEA and Principal Consultant & CEO, SQE Marine Group, gave a very interesting speech on the implications of the requirements of the new STCW. Despite the fact that the new STCW has been accepted by a diplomatic conference in Manila back in June 2010, unfortunately many industry stakeholders are not aware of the implications of the new requirements and as a result they have not addressed their safeguards properly.
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Officer of the Watch 