Landing the Big One

Landing the Big One

Monday, August 29, 2016

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 26 July - 24 August 2016



A look at such crimes for 2016 from the excellent ICC Commercial Crimes Services International Maritime Bureau's Live Piracy Map:

Globally:



Hotspots -
 Gulf of Guinea:

Southeast Asia:


The good news is that the IMB reports Sea piracy drops to 21-year low:
Piracy and armed robbery at sea has fallen to its lowest levels since 1995, despite a surge in kidnappings off West Africa, according to a new report from the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

IMB's global piracy report shows 98 incidents in the first half of 2016, compared with 134 for the same period in 2015. When piracy was at its highest, in 2010 and 2003, IMB recorded 445 attacks a year.

In the first half of 2016, IMB recorded 72 vessels boarded, five hijackings, and a further 12 attempted attacks. Nine ships were fired upon. Sixty-four crew were taken hostage onboard, down from 250 in the same period last year.

"This drop in world piracy is encouraging news. Two main factors are recent improvements around Indonesia, and the continued deterrence of Somali pirates off East Africa," said Pottengal Mukundan, Director of IMB, whose global Piracy Reporting Centre has supported the shipping industry, authorities and navies for 25 years.

"But ships need to stay vigilant, maintain security and report all attacks, as the threat of piracy remains, particularly off Somalia and in the Gulf of Guinea," he said.
***
Despite global improvements, kidnappings are on the rise, with 44 crew captured for ransom in 2016, 24 of them in Nigeria, up from 10 in the first half of 2015.

"In the Gulf of Guinea, rather than oil tankers being hijacked for their cargo, there is an increasing number of incidents of crew being kidnapped for ransom," said Captain Mukundan.
Kidnapping off the Philippines is on-going, too, as a means of funding self-identified ISIS affiliate Abu Sayyaf.

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