Piracy Drops Worldwide

The Chinese Navy frigate Huangshan leaves Valletta's Grand Harbour March 30, 2013, after concluding an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, providing security escort to civilian and commercial vessels.

Piracy Drops Worldwide, Especially In Somalia -- Voice of America

The number of pirate attacks is down worldwide, especially off Somalia, where pirates once hijacked dozens of ships each year, according to a new report.

The International Maritime Bureau says there were 66 reported pirate incidents in the first quarter of 2013; that's a drop of 55 percent compared to a year earlier.

According to the report, Somali pirates carried out only five reported attacks during the quarter and just one hijacking. In that case, naval forces freed the ship's crew before the vessel reached Somalia.

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Update #1: World sea piracy falls 35 percent in first quarter 2013; spotlight on Gulf of Guinea -- FOX News/AP
Update #2: Sea piracy attacks decline in first quarter -- New Europe
Update #3: Report shifts piracy concerns to west African coast -- UPI

My Comment: The ICIS press release is here.

Somali Piracy Costs The Global Economy $12 billion

A pirate at the coastline of Somalia. Political instability and civil strife in the country have spurred piracy in the Indian Ocean into a global problem. AFP

Study Finds Somali Piracy Could Cost Global Economy $12 Billion -- Business Daily

Twenty years ago, when the government of Somalia collapsed, few imagined that the country’s ongoing state of lawlessness would eventually spawn piracy on such a scale that the security of the western Indian Ocean region could be threatened.



At first, many assumed that pirate attacks on passing ships could be quickly stifled. But the problem has grown into a global malady that so far has warranted seven United Nations resolutions, one of which authorised “all necessary means to repress piracy and armed robbery at sea”.



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My Comment: A staggering problem that shows no sign of decreasing. If anything .... Somali piracy is getting worse.

Not All Pirates Are Bad

Max Hardberger in Miragoâne, the Haitian port where he staged his most daring ship repossession, stealing a 10,000-ton freighter from under the noses of a rioting mob Photo: Swoan Parker

Pirate Hunter Guns For Somali Raiders -- The Telegraph

Max Hardberger, a maritime repo man who recovers stolen ships from lawless Caribbean ports, has set his sights on the notorious Somali pirates.

'I don’t know why I like Haiti so much,’ Max Hardberger says, as we battle and swerve through the choking dust and chaos of Port-au-Prince traffic.

'The Haitian people are wonderful, sure, but sometimes they do bad things, especially when they get in mobs, and the country is obviously frustrating. One thing I do like is that it’s lawless here, which makes it much easier for me to operate.’

Hardberger is a 62-year-old adventurer from Louisiana who specialises in stealing back ships that have been fraudulently seized in corrupt ports, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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My Comment: This is a fascinating and enjoyable read. I wish him the best in Somalia.

Worldwide Piracy At An All-Time High

Maritime piracy may be at an all-time high, with 142 attacks reported worldwide in the first three months of 2011. CNN

Report: Piracy At A Record High -- CNN

London (CNN) -- Piracy, mostly in the dangerous waters near Somalia, has surged this year and may be at an all-time high, according to a new report Thursday.

There have been 142 pirate attacks worldwide in the first three months of this year, according to the report from the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau.

And 97 of the attacks came off the coast of Somalia, the organization said.

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More News On Worldwide Piracy

Piracy at an all time high in 2011 first-quarter - watchdog -- Reuters
World sea attacks surge in first quarter to 142 cases as Somali pirates become more violent -- Canadian Press/AP
World piracy attacks at all-time high -- M&C
Worldwide piracy attacks at record high -- Herald Sun
Attacks off the Somali coast drive piracy to record high, reports IMB -- The Financial
Piracy at all time high, says maritime watchdog --DNA

Global Piracy Costs Billions

Several of the 19 captured Somali pirates, captured by the french navy on January 4, 2009. the French naval vessel Jean de Vienne, patrolling in the seas off Somalia as part of a European Union anti-piracy force, came to the rescue of two cargo ships in the Gulf of Aden. Photo from Chronogram Magazine

Global Piracy Costs Billions, Says Study -- BBC

Maritime piracy costs the global economy between $7bn (£4.4bn) and $12bn (£7.6bn) a year, a study says.

The report, compiled by US think-tank One Earth Future, calculated the amount from the costs of ransom, security equipment and the impact on trade.

The majority of costs came from piracy off Somalia, it says.

Although the costs are said to be difficult to assess, one researcher estimated they had increased roughly five-fold since 2005.

Despite an international effort to patrol waters, the number of reported incidents of piracy has risen over recent years, and the areas in which they operate has grown.

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More News On The Cost Of Global Piracy

Study: Piracy Costs World Up to $12 Billion Annually -- Voice of America
Piracy costs global economy $7-12 bln a year: study -- Reuters
Piracy costs world economy up to $12 billion a year -- Sify News
Sea Piracy Costing Global Economy Billions: Report -- RTT News

An Examination On The Ruthless Calculus Behind A New Age Of Piracy

The 290-foot, three-masted cruise ship Le Ponant was targeted last year by Somali pirates, who held hostage its crew of 30—a harbinger of attacks to come. By Thierry Lacour/Gamma/Eyedea/Zuma Press.

The Pirate Latitudes -- Vanity Fair

When the French luxury cruise ship Le Ponant was captured by a raggedy, hopped-up band of Somali pirates last spring, in the Gulf of Aden, it looked as if the bandits had bitten off more than they could chew. But after a week-long standoff, they got what they had come for—a $2.15 million ransom. Describing the terrifying attack, the ordeal of the ship’s epicurean crew, and the tense negotiations, the author examines the ruthless calculus behind a new age of piracy.

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My Comment: A sobering view on how piracy on the high seas has evolved to what it is today. Read it all.

Piracy Is Now Spreading To The West Coast Of Africa

Piracy attacks since the beginning of the year. (Photo from Ministry of Jesus Benin)

Pirates Take New Territory: West African Gulf Of Guinea -- Christian Science Monitor

Pirates are making headway off the West African coast – the Gulf of Guinea is second only to Somalia in terms of pirate attacks.

It was Nov. 24, and the German-owned oil tanker MT Cancale Star was plying the blue ocean water 18 miles from shore when the crew spotted a speedboat full of pirates, approaching fast.

If this sounds like just another day in Somalia, think again. The MT Cancale Star was off the coast of the West African country of Benin, and the pirates were Nigerian.

The Gulf of Guinea is second only to Somalia in terms of such attacks, with some 32 pirate strikes reported in the first nine months of 2009.

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My Comment: The focus has been on the piracy off the coast of Somalia and in the Indian Ocean, and how to stem the attacks. But criminal gangs across Africa are now noting the lucrative benefits of piracy, and the inability of the international community to stop and/or prosecute this criminal enterprise.

My prediction .... piracy has the potential of becoming a continent wide problem, with consequences that are going to impact international trade and commerce.

The Weak Link in Anti-Piracy Efforts

From New Wars:

Last week a USN helicopter was fired on by a Somali pirate from a Taiwanese freighter. They just keep getting bolder, and getting away with it, according to JE Dyer at Commentary Magazine:

There was no decision point for returning fire from the Navy helicopter, because the crewmen were not certain they had been fired on until they evaluated the recording from their infrared camera after the mission. The pirates used small arms (rifles), which give off little muzzle flash and do not have the range to hit the helicopter at the altitude it would maintain for a surveillance mission. A shoulder-fired missile would be immediately detectable and draw an immediate response from the Navy. But small-arms fire, in these circumstances, is not a valid pretext for any specific critique of either our operational policies or our military rules of engagement.

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My Comment: When 9/11 occurred, I called my brother in San Francisco to tell him what had happened. It was 6:30 AM his time, 9:30 AM my time. He was half asleep when he picked up the phone ... but he woke up immediately when the first thing that I told him was that the U.S. was now at war.

I expected worse.

10 days later I was in New York City to bring back home an ex-girlfriend who was completely shaken by that event. She was a few blocks away when the second plane hit .... and a few blocks further when the first tower fell down.

She now lives in Northern Quebec .... cities scare her.

Seeing the despair in New York City made me expect a war .... a war that would involve the largest mobilization of people since the Second World War. I expected the governments of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan .... and many others gone or overthrown within two or three years.

I expected a new world.

I was wrong.

What we now have is a return to an older world of continuous war, conflict, tribal and religious hatreds .... and I do not see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We have lost our will to fight evil and the monsters that it produces. As a result, the conflicts get bigger and the costs rise.

The everyday conflict with Somali pirates is a symbol to me of what is wrong.

The USA has a trillion dollar navy, with an aircraft carrier having more firepower than what was used in the Second World War. But a few poor pirates with rusty AK-47s and RPGs have the will to stand up to the U.S. Navy and .... win.

We have made war distant and clean .... but while we believe that far away conflicts do not affect us directly, the truth is that if we do not confront it now, it eventually will.

West Weighs Arming Ships To Counter Naval Piracy

From AP:

STANBUL — Challenging a global aversion to guns aboard ships, France has put troops on tuna boats in the Indian Ocean, and Belgium is offering military units to its merchant vessels off the Horn of Africa. Now, U.S. lawmakers are weighing similar action to fight piracy.

Opponents fear such moves will escalate the violence and raise a minefield of legal issues.

In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment that would require the Department of Defense to put armed teams on U.S.-flagged ships passing through high-risk waters, specifically around the Horn of Africa where Somali pirates have become a scourge of world shipping.

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My Comment: I doubt that arming ships will solve the problem of naval piracy .... but it is a start.

Using Satellites To Combat Naval Piracy

Close Encounters of the Pirate Kind -- Defense Tech

This article first appeared in Aviation Week & Space Technology.

The U.S. is exploring the use of commercial satellites to enhance ship identification and communication for the battle against piracy.

Long before the U.S.-flagged container ship Maersk Alabama was attacked by Somali pirates this month, a sister vessel, the Maersk Iowa, was plying the sea lanes between the U.S. East Coast and the Indian Ocean, testing a device that combines the information obtained from shipboard radar and identification transponders to give authorities a better overview of who is on the water and what they are up to.

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Captain Once Held By Pirates Urges Military Protection, Armed Crews

In this photo released by the U.S. Navy, Maersk-Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips, right, shakes hands with Lt. Cmdr. David Fowler, executive officer of USS Bainbridge after being rescued by U.S Naval Forces off the coast of Somalia on Sunday April 12, 2009. (AP Photo/ U.S. Navy)

From The L.A. Times:

Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama says, 'And I don't mean a security guard. I don't mean a mall cop. I mean someone who's sufficiently trained.' His boss disagrees.

Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama says, 'And I don't mean a security guard. I don't mean a mall cop. I mean someone who's sufficiently trained.' His boss disagrees.

Reporting from Washington -- The freed captain of a merchant ship attacked by pirates near Somalia last month called Thursday for military protection and armed crew members to thwart attacks in dangerous waters.

Capt. Richard Phillips, skipper of the Maersk Alabama, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that it was the "responsibility of the U.S. government" to protect any ship flying an American flag, through military escorts or onboard squads of highly trained security forces.

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My Comment: Having small arms on a ship will probably go a long way to deterring pirate attacks. But a more forceful response must be articulated to combat and eventually defeat naval piracy. Capt. Richard Phillips is looking at this problem from a non-economic point of view .... he wants to protect his men and ship .... the owner's view is broader with most of their attention directed at the bottom line.

Who is right .... I do not know. But I do expect some "middle ground" being established between these two points of view .... and adopted sooner rather than later.

Ridding Somalia Of Pirates: Hard Choices For The West

Kenyan authorities escort a suspected pirate from the French frigate Nivose, part of the European Union's anti-piracy naval mission off the coast of Somalia. Tony Karumba / AFP / Getty Images

From Time Magazine:

Somali piracy is not a "waterborne disease," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a gathering of more than 60 governments in Brussels last week. The solution to the problem lies on land, in the establishment of a Somali government deemed legitimate by its citizenry and capable of enforcing its writ. World leaders appeared to heed Ban's advice, pledging $213 million in aid to rebuild the Somali government and its security forces. But success in the effort will depend in no small part on foreign powers' avoiding repeats of earlier efforts to reimpose order on the chaos of Somalia — most recently in the course of the Bush Administration's war on terrorism.

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My Comment: The "hard choices" are not really that hard at all. The pirate bases are known. The money changers and the "pirate infrastructure" is known. The leaders for these gangs are known.

The problem has always been the lack of will to do what is necessary. To find and conduct military and/or special ops against the men who organize and profit from this trade. But because such an operation will entail risk and the killing of many people .... hence the "squeamishness".

Arguments for trying to stabilize Somalia is also (unfortunately) a waste of time. Black Hawk Down and the present failure of the Ethiopian military and AU peacekeepers has made it very clear to everyone that bringing stability to Somalia would entail tens of thousands of soldiers, and the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars.

This is not going to happen.

Hence, we are where we are today. We send billion dollar naval ships to patrol a huge ocean, and when merchant ships are hijacked .... all the navies of the world just sit back and watch the show.

Petraeus: Shippers Should Consider Armed Guards

Photo: U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, addresses an audience during a forum at the John F. Kennedy School of Government on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., Tuesday, April 21, 2009. Commander of the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, Petraeus spoke on a range of issues at the forum titled '21st Century Leadership: Lessons from the U.S. Military.' (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

From Yahoo News/AP:

WASHINGTON – The global shipping industry should consider placing armed guards on its boats to ward off pirates who have become increasingly violent, the U.S. military commander who oversees the African coastline said Friday.

Gen. David Petraeus, who came to the Capitol to talk about a wide variety of issues, told a House committee Friday that just trying to outrun or block pirates from boarding cargo ships isn't enough to deter sea bandits off the Somali coast who are becoming more aggressive. The Pentagon is starting to study how to better protect merchant shipping, but hasn't yet come up with a formal plan.

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My Comment: To start arming ships will required an international consensus and a change in maritime law. But considering how naval piracy is now getting our of hand, and that it is only a question of time before pirates start to operate from other lawless and/or failed states, I do expect that a change in law will soon be happening.

The fact that an Italian cruise ship used firehoses and guns to beat back pirates (Sunday morning) .... a cruise ship with 1500 passengers .... one can only assume the carnage that would have entailed if security guards had no weapons and if these pirates were successful (see previous post).

Not Your Forefather’s War On Piracy

Suspected pirates hold up thir hands in the Gulf of Aden in February. Somali pirates seized two more ships, brushing off their losses from deadly rescue operations and throwing down the gauntlet to US President Barack Obama after he pledged to curb piracy. (AFP/US Navy/File/Jason R. Zalasky)

From New Wars:

The US and Western navies are seeking their identity in a new century with new threats looming to challenge their historical hold on the sealanes. From the Boston Globe and an article titled “The (smaller, faster, cheaper) future of sea power“:

When most of us think about irregular warfare, the images we have are Fallujah, or eastern Afghanistan, or perhaps Vietnam. But as the recent standoff with three Somali pirates highlighted, asymmetric battles aren’t just limited to land. And though the Maersk Alabama incident ended unequivocally in the favor of the US Navy, the image of a 9,200-ton guided-missile destroyer called into action against a lifeboat only drove home the sense that this isn’t really what today’s US Navy was built to do.

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My Comment: This type of conflict and warfare has always been around since the beginning of time. The difference is that our interconnected world makes all of these events immediately known and publicized.

This is a good post from New Wars and a recommended read.

The Most Notorious Pirates Ever

From Live Science:

Pirates are a hot topic these days, as modern buccaneers continue to terrorize the world's busy shipping lanes much like their counterparts did in the heyday of piracy several centuries ago.

Despite having been glamorized in films and books, that classic pirate was just as feared as those currently making headlines. Many began pirating life as privateers -- sailors hired by governments to act as part-time warships and marauders against enemy commerce ships in designated zones -- but found the raiding so lucrative that they eventually struck out on their own.

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What Thomas Jefferson Knew About Pirates

PAST/PRESENT A Barbary Wars fight in 1804. Mansell/Time & Life Pictures — Getty Images

From The New York Times:

NAIROBI, Kenya — An American skipper in the hands of seafaring rogues. Some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes under attack. Tough men from a messy patch of Africa eluding and harassing the world’s greatest powers.

Sound familiar? Well, it’s not last week’s drama on the high seas we’re talking about, when Somali pirates attacked an American freighter in the Indian Ocean and took its captain hostage, then made off with him in a lifeboat. We’re talking about the Barbary Wars, about 200 years ago, when pirates from the Barbary Coast (today’s Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Libya) hijacked European ships with impunity and ransomed back the crews.

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Exclusive Video: How the Littoral Combat Ship Will Fight Pirates

From War Is Boring:



Commander Don Gabrielson of USS Freedom discusses how his new high-speed, “modular” ship might fight pirates. He mentions that Freedom could use its wake to capsize pirates’ boats. Neat idea, but does he realize that many pirates can’t swim, and flipping their boats would kill them?

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West Africa Pirate Threat On Rise

From The BBC:

World attention on piracy off Somalia has diverted attention from the growing threat of attacks off west Africa, according to shipping experts.

The International Maritime Bureau says it knows of more than 100 pirate attacks off west Africa last year - yet only 40 were reported.

This is partly down to a reluctance by shipping companies to upset the local West African authorities, it says.

The latest attack happened when pirates shot at a tanker off Nigeria's coast.

Read more ....

More News On Naval Piracy

NATO anti-piracy flotilla to sail in March -- International Herald Tribune
Report: Somalia aims to make anti-piracy corridor -- MSNBC/AP
NATO Pledges Second Anti-Piracy Operation -- Deutsche Welle
U.S. Navy, NATO toughen action against pirates -- MSNBC