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Pirate attacks this year exceed last year’s

Ignatius Pereira

Report released by International Maritime Bureau

Surge in attacks off the east coast of Somalia
Pirate gangs not perturbed by naval presence

KOLLAM: According to a report released on Tuesday by the Piracy Reporting Center of the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB), the number of pirate attacks this year in the region comprising the Gulf of Aden and east coast of Somalia has crossed the total figure of such attacks reported during the whole of 2008.

In 2008, 111 pirate attacks were reported from the region, out of which 42 vessels were hijacked. This year, the figure in the region has already touched 114. But the number of vessels hijacked by the pirates is 29.

In the Gulf of Aden region, 71 pirate attacks were reported this year accounting for 17 vessels getting hijacked by the pirates. Compared to those figures, in 2008 there were 92 pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden resulting in 32 vessels getting hijacked. The surge in pirate attacks this year was off the east coast of Somalia.

While 19 pirate attacks were reported from the east coast of Somalia in 2008 resulting in ten vessels getting hijacked, this year the number of pirate attacks there has already touched 42 resulting in 12 vessels getting hijacked by the pirates.

During the pirate attacks this year off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, the pirates had opened fire at 54 vessels. Compared to that, only 39 cases of vessels being fired upon by pirates were reported from the region during the whole of last year. While 815 crew members were taken hostage from the region by the pirates last year, the total number of crew members taken hostage this year is 478.

The figures show that in spite of the alarming increase in pirate attacks, the number of hijacks is comparatively low. IMB director Pottengal Mukundan attributes this to the presence of the naval forces of various countries in the region with the specific intention of safeguarding freedom of navigation in the area.

Mr. Mukundan at the same time said the surge in the number of attacks shows that the pirate gangs have not been perturbed by the naval presence.

The spurt in the attacks has only shown an increased urge on the part of the pirates to use aggression for meeting their ends. But it is vital that the presence of the navies continue in the area, Mr. Mukundan said.

Meanwhile, in an alert sounded to ships transiting the region, the Commercial Crime Services wing of the International Chamber of Commerce states that most of the skiffs used by the pirates in the region are blue or white in colour intended to cause difficulties in identifying them during daylight and distinguish them on the radar.

The alert also states that based on intelligence reports there are a number of suspicious vessels believed to be pirate mother vessels moving in the area with the intention to attack and hijack ships. According to the description about such vessels obtained, they are Russian-made stern trawlers bearing the names Burum Ocean and Arena or Athena.

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