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.
The first ten weeks of 2014 have witnessed the resurgence of maritime kidnap-for-ransom off the coast of Nigeria’s Niger Delta. This distinct form of piracy does not receive the same international attention as does the hijacking and robbery of multi-million dollar tanker cargos, but it poses an omnipresent threat to greater number of mariners.
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:
In the early hours of 18 January 2014 a 75,000-ton tanker, the MT Kerala, vanished off the coast of Angola. A sophisticated pirate gang hijacked the Greek-owned vessel, disabling its identifications system and communication equipment, and painting over its identifying markers.
With incidents of maritime piracy declining and greater awareness of new maritime security threats, the shape and governance of various counter-piracy initiatives and institutions will come into question this year.
Recently there is an increased threat of crew kidnap in the Gulf of Guinea with two new attacks on vessels taking place within a single week having also Nigerian-flagged vessels targeted by pirates and kidnapping six crew members.
While piracy attacks seem to be on the decline off the coast of Somalia, pirates may be warming up in West Africa. As I and others have blogged about before, the Gulf of Guinea, as well the Nigerian Delta, have recently turned into hotbeds of piracy. The Nigerian Delta in particular, because of vast amounts of oil production which takes place there annually, has attracted potential pirates interested in seizing oil and selling it for profit on the black market.
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Officer of the Watch 