Dryad Maritime’s Piracy Report Highlights Gulf of Guinea as New “Hotspot”

Dryad’s 2016 figures highlighted a significant increase in offshore maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea compared to 2015. The figure of 49 attacks at sea for 2016 is a huge increase on the 2015 total of 20 attacks. The number of crew kidnapped (51) is also significantly greater than the 31 abducted for ransom the previous year. The Somali pirate threat in the Indian Ocean remains broadly contained with the main focus being the ongoing civil war in Yemen and the implications to shipping in the region. As a result of the reduced risk, NATO has ended its counter-piracy mission and a number of nations are reducing or removing their naval forces in the region.

 

EUNAVFOR attributed only a single incident to Somali pirates, although neither NATO nor UKMTO recognised the incident as an attack. While the Yemen conflict has raised concern in the Bab al Mandeb, maritime attacks in the strait have been mainly on ships involved in the conflict. The focus of the maritime crime statistics this year is the significant increase in kidnap in the Gulf of Guinea and Southeast Asia. While the number of mariners involved is small, compared to those held hostage at the height of the Somali pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean, it is nevertheless a significant increase. While the Mediterranean remains in the headlines for continued concern over the maritime migration from North Africa, the end of Daesh/IS territorial control in Sirte is a small sign of improvement in a country that remains wracked by civil war. In the Indian Ocean, piracy has now taken a backseat compared to the risk to shipping from the ongoing conflict in Yemen that has seen ships involved in the conflict attacked and the first alleged Waterborne IED attack of a commercial ship in over 5 years.

Southeast Asia saw a 55% reduction when compared to 2015, a trend that continued from the final quarter of 2015 that saw a more proactive and effective approach to law enforcement, in particular from the Indonesian and Malaysian authorities. Concern in the region in the last quarter focused on the Sulu Sea and the attacks by Abu Sayyaf. While these have been mostly on fishing vessels and coal barges, a couple of larger merchant vessels have been attacked and their crew kidnapped.

The Mediterranean has continued as an area of interest, due to the ongoing civil war in Libya. However, instability ashore has not resulted in many incidents at sea. Despite this, the continued flow of those fleeing across the sea to Europe, has meant that the ongoing crises and instability across North Africa and the Middle East have had an impact upon maritime activities. Finally, looking at the rest of the world, 2016 saw a further increase in levels of maritime crime from the 2015 figures. This may not point towards a real terms increase though, as the quality of reporting continues to increase in multiple regions.
Source: Dryad Maritime

Source: http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/dryad-maritimes-piracy-report-highlights-gulf-of-guinea-as-new-hotspot/