As many as 53 ships were hijacked at sea, 1181 sailors taken hostage and eight killed in 2010, making it the most dangerous of all recorded years in international shipping, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) global piracy report has said.
The waters off Somalia accounted for most of the hijack incidents — 92 per cent of all ship seizures last year (49 vessels hijacked and 1,016 crew members taken hostage). IMB said 28 vessels and 638 hostages were still being held for ransom by Somali pirates as of December 2010. The report says the most disturbing aspect of the Somali pirates was that they were getting bolder and more sophisticated and hence, travelling farther in search of “preys”.
The report also points out what good policing can achieve. The waters off Gulf of Aden witnessed a drastic reduction in incidents of piracy because of the multi-national naval forces on patrol in the region.
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With IMB not diluting its standards as to what constitutes an attack, such instances have constantly been on the rise. There are no petty theft issues when it comes to piracy; even the act of a single person boarding a ship illegally to steal (as it happens in many ports) is recorded as an incident.
Ships reported 445 attacks in 2010, up 10 per cent from 2009. “These figures for the number of hostages and vessels taken are the highest we have ever seen,” P. Mukundan, Director, Piracy Reporting Centre, Kuala Lumpur, was quoted as saying in the IMB website.
Violent attacks continued around Nigeria, with incidents concentrated near the port of Lagos.
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The ICC-IMB is a specialised division of the ICC. The IMB is a non-profit organisation, established in 1981 to act as a focal point in the fight against all types of maritime crime and malpractice. The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre is the world's only manned centre to receive reports of pirate attacks round-the-clock, all year.