Piracy Less Severe in 2015, but IMB Advises Vigilance

The IMB Piracy Reporting Center, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce, has released its annual piracy report for 2015. Many trends are encouraging: the total number of reported attacks stayed level with the prior year, but hostage-taking and attackers’ possession of firearms are both down by nearly half.

Notably, no incidents were reported off Somalia last year. The shipping industry's designated "high risk area” (HRA) off the Somali coast was reduced in size in December, following complaints by neighboring countries regarding the inclusion of their territorial seas. But the IMB cautions operators that they should maintain security measures while transiting Somali waters - even if the HRA warning line has been moved on the charts.

"Reportedly, momentum is building to do away with ship hardening measures including the carriage of armed security teams and speed recommendations . . . however, from all accounts, the situation ashore in Somalia is increasingly fragile and it is important that vessels continue to be vigilant as they sail through these waters,” the IMB said. Additionally, the IMB suggested that pirates may view the area recently removed from the HRA as a good place to find vulnerable vessels, on the theory that ships transiting that region will not feel the need to carry private armed security teams.

The agency also noted the perennially high risk in waters off Indonesia and Malaysia, where boardings of vessels under way are disproportionately high.

The IMB highlighted successful law enforcement and anti-piracy efforts in several regions, notably in Nigeria, where authorities arrested 1,600 alleged pirates and 50 vessels in 2015; and in Indonesia and Malaysia, where officials cooperated in a crackdown effort that resulted in the arrest of alleged pirate "mastermind" Heintje Lango, described as a leader of the hijacking of the tanker Okrim Harmony, and subdued two pirate gangs. The IMB credited the joint Indonesian-Malaysian effort with the lack of successful hijackings in the region in the final quarter of the year.

The year's news was not all positive. Crew kidnapped by pirates rose from nine individuals in 2014 to 19 in 2015, and vessel boardings increased by about 10 percent. Further, while 2015 saw several noteworthy improvements, Friday's hijacking and kidnapping off Nigeria highlighted the fact that piracy will remain a serious threat to shipping for the foreseeable future.

The IMB’s report also includes a detailed written account of each reported attack, including pirates’ armament, crew response and the outcome, and a breakdown of reported statitics by month, region, attack type and other metrics.