Page 19 - INTERCARGO - Annual Review 2023-2024

INTERCARGO ANNUAL REVIEW 2023-2024

Piracy and armed

robbery at sea

Be aware of the sea areas and ports affected by piracy
and armed robbery. Report all attacks and suspicious sightings
to local authorities as per IMO circular MSC.1/Circ.1334
and to relevant Navy’s reporting centers if practical.

According to information made available in IMO’s GI- Operation Atalanta, formally known as the European
SIS module, 150 incidents of piracy and armed rob- Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia, issued a
bery against ships were reported as having occurred Threat Assessment in September 2024, classifying
or been attempted in 2023. This therefore constitutes the piracy threat to ships transiting the Red Sea (RS),
an increase of approximately 15% at the global lev- Bab al Mandeb Strait (BAM), Gulf of Aden (GOA) and
el compared to the same period in 2022. The areas the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) as MODERATE (an
most affected by acts of piracy and armed robbery attack is a REALISTIC POSSIBILITY) in GoA. Poten-
against ships in 2023 were the Straits of Malacca and tial for Pirate Action Groups (PAGs) to target vessels
Singapore (85), West Africa (22), South China Sea (14) in IRTC without the need for a mother vessel. How-
and South America (Pacific) (14), followed by Indian ever, across the Arabian Sea (AS), it is assessed as
Ocean (5), South America (Caribbean) (4), Arabian LOW (an attack is UNLIKELY) due to the weather
Sea (2), East Africa (2), South America (Atlantic) (1) conditions during the SW monsoon period, impact-
and Mediterranean Sea (1). ing most of this area.

There has been an improvement in the overall situ- The shipping industry will continue to monitor and
ation of Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships advise on maritime security threats to assist the safe
in Asia during January-June 2024, with a 16% de- transit of vessels and the seafarers who crew them.
crease in the number of incidents compared to Jan- Pre-voyage threat and risk assessments should still
uary-June 2023. A total of 51 incidents of Piracy and be carried out considering the latest maritime se-
armed robbery at sea was reported during Janu- curity information from organisations supporting
ary-June 2024 compared to 61 incidents during the the Voluntary Reporting Area (VRA). The industry
same period in 2023. Best Management Practices will continue to pro-
vide the necessary guidance for shipping to ensure
Kidnappings for ransom occurred in the Gulf of Guin- that threat and risk assessments are developed for
ea (GoG) in 2024. In January 2024, nine crew mem- every voyage to mitigate the risks presented by re-
bers were kidnapped from a Tuvalu-flagged tanker 46 maining security threats in the relevant region.
nautical miles southwest of Bioko Island, Equatorial
Guinea. On May 29, 2024, two crew members were The shipping industry maintains a Maritime Glob-
kidnapped from a general cargo ship 25 nautical miles al Security Website, which provides guidance and
south of Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. Ships trans- external links. The site can be navigated using the
iting this area should visit the Maritime Domain Aware- drop-down menus to specify the type of risk/issue,
ness for Trade-Gulf of Guinea (MDAT-GoG) website at or geography. International shipping industry asso-
https://gog-mdat.org/home for additional information ciations, including INTERCARGO, have joined forc-
on threats and specific recommendations for vessels. es to continue updating the resource.
(https://www.maritimeglobalsecurity.org).
Somali piracy still poses a threat, with eight report-
ed incidents in the first half of 2024, including three
hijackings. Recent incidents demonstrate the con-
tinued capability and capacity of the Somali pirates For more information on this topic,
to target vessels up to 1,000 nautical miles (nm) off please visit:
the Somali coast. https://www.intercargo.org/topics/piracy/

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