Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea Has Not Gone Away

It's been too long since I last reported on the work of the ICC-IMB Piracy Reporting Centre which produces the "Live Piracy Map" and maintains a database of attacks which culminates in their Annual Piracy Report. Here's a summary for 2023:

So far in 2024:

2024 West Africa and Indian Ocean:

2024 Southeast Asia:

For reference 2023 and 2022:

The patterns are nearly the same as those that preceded the explosion of piracy off Somalia. The reasons remain the same - pirates/sea robbers attack where the ships are.

The Piracy Reporting Centre is to be commended in their effort to keep the issues involving attacks on shipping and merchant mariners in the public eye.

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 31 May - 29 June 2016

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 31 May - 29 June 2016 by lawofsea

U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 1 - 30 March 2016 and Weapons Seizures at Sea

From the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence :

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 1 - 30 March 2016 by lawofsea

While it is also in the WTS, it is worth noting this segment of the HORN OF AFRICA/GULF OF GUINEA/SOUTHEAST ASIA: Piracy Analysis and Warning Weekly (PAWW) Report for 24 - 30 March 2016:

1. (U) ARABIAN SEA: On 20 March, the French Navy destroyer FS

Photo source

PROVENCE seized a large weapons cache from a dhow in the northern Indian Ocean. The incident took place as the ship operated as part of the Combined Maritime Forces Combined Task Force 150 which conducts maritime security and counterterrorism operations. The dhow was spotted heading towards Somalia by PROVENCE's surveillance helicopter while it was undertaking routine surveillance in the northern Indian Ocean. Subsequently, personnel from PROVENCE boarded the dhow

A FREMM- Class Frigate similar to Provence

and ascertained that it was without nationality. PROVENCE
then undertook a search of the vessel, during which the weapons were found. The haul included 2,000- AK47 assault rifles, 49-PKM machine guns, along with mortars and anti-tank weapons. As the illicit weapons were deemed to be destined for Somalia, they were seized under the United Nations Security Council mandated arms embargo in accordance with UNSCR 2244 (2015)(www.meretmarine.com/fr;www.dt.bh)

An earlier report of a weapons seizure by HMAS Darwin:

Darwin's VBSS

HMAS Darwin intercepted the vessel approximately 170 nautical miles (313 kilometres) off the coast of Oman and initially conducted a flag verification boarding. After assessing the vessel to be stateless, HMAS Darwin searched the vessel and discovered 1989 AK-47 assault rifles, 100 rocket propelled grenade

HMAS Darwin

launchers, 49 PKM general purpose machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 60mm mortar tubes. These weapons were seized from the vessel that was heading towards the Somalia coast.

Interesting, especially in light of this report of a U.S. Navy ship also capturing a dhow full of weapons as reported by the NYTimes:

The U.S. Navy says it has seized a weapons shipment in the Arabian

Sea from Iran likely heading to war-torn Yemen.

The Navy said in a statement Monday that the USS Sirocco on March 28 intercepted and seized the shipment of weapons hidden aboard a small dhow, a type of ship commonly used in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.

USS Sirocco

The Navy said the shipment included 1,500 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 200 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and 21 .50-caliber machine guns. It said those aboard the dhow were released after sailors confiscated the arms.

A Saudi-led, U.S.-backed coalition is fighting in Yemen against Shiite rebels and their allies there. Officials have linked similar weapons seizures to Iran and the Shiite rebels, though the rebels deny receiving support from the Islamic Republic.(hat tip CDR Salamander)

Business must be good for arms dealers. Every seizure means another round of purchases.

Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Shipping in 2015

Once again for 2015 a big hat tip to the ICC International Maritime Bureau for their excellent work in capturing reported attacks on ships. Their work can be found at Live Piracy Map and Live Piracy Report. As they note,

The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB PRC) is the world’s only non-governmental, manned centre receiving and disseminating reports of piracy and armed robbery 24 hours a day, across the globe.
***
Transparent statistics from IMB PRC is vital to raise awareness and encourage authorities to tackle piracy and armed robbery firmly.

Keeping that in mind, for 2015 here's a look at reported incidents in 2015:

 Compare that to 2014:

Once again, these assaults on shipping include a wide-range of acts, from hijackings to "sneak aboard and steal stuff" and perceived threats. Such attacks tend to occur in major shipping lanes and anchorages, such as the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, but also off the west coast of Africa near major oil ports. IMB guidance on reporting which:

.... follows the definition of Piracy as laid down in Article 101 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and Armed Robbery as laid down in Resolution A.1025 (26) adopted on 2 December 2009 at the 26th Assembly Session of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

Zooming in:

West Africa:

Indian Ocean:

 SE Asia:

Straits of Malacca and Singapore:

South China Sea:

 About 240 + incidents in 2015.

U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence: Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 19 October - 18 November 2015

From the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Intelligence:

WORLDWIDE: Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 19 October - 18 November 2015

Return to EagleSpeak of the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threats to Shipping Report

Of particular interest

1.  An amnesty in Nigeria that may not have worked;
2. A Chinese oil smuggling scheme;
3. A nice joint effort near Singapore that caught some bad guys;
4. A general reminder that there are dangerous waters out there

This was released 24 September 2015:

ONI 24-9-15 Worldwide Threat to Shipping

I used to put up excerpts from these reports, but will now put them up whole.

If you are wondering about an earlier version, I had to change it out when I notice highlighting obstructed the text.

Too bad, I had some witty comments on it.

ONI does some good work in gathering this info.

Should there be a "cost-benefit analysis of fighting maritime piracy? The Government Accountability Office says it might be a good idea in its report "MARITIME SECURITY Ongoing U.S. Counterpiracy Efforts Would Benefit From Agency Assessments"

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If you are looking for humor of a sort, you might look at the following table:

I would suggest that the difference in the "Pirate response to armed security teams" between the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Guinea has a great deal to do with the variation in the quality of the private security teams between the two areas. So ... just sayin'  - there are many kinds of "cost effectiveness."
Hat tip to USNI News.