Piracy off the Somalian coast  became a serious concern in 2007 and the threat has grown ever since. During 2008 and 2009 it was estimated that annual earnings were approximately USD100 million. The Oceans Beyond Piracy organisation has estimated the total figure for ransoms paid in 2010 as USD 238 m and the total cost to the world economy in the range of USD 7 bn to USD 12 bn.

The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre has recently released its report for 2010 which shows that Somali pirates were responsible for 219 attacks and 49 hijackings, with a total of 1016 crew detained and eight deaths. Increased naval presence and better crew preparedness has caused the pirates to expand over a greater area with back-up from mother vessels (once hijacked fishing boats but now much larger vessels) and also to a greater readiness to use weapons, including RPGs.

The presence of forty or more naval vessels is welcome and means that pirates cannot act with complete impunity. However the forces have a vast area to police. Somalia has a 3,000 km coastline and, with some 22,000 ships transiting the Gulf of Aden each year, there is a huge number of ships to monitor.

Pirates have a simple but adaptable methodology and have steadily extended their area of operation well into the Indian Ocean and South towards Madagascar.  No ships are immune. The risk of attack is no longer confined to ships transiting the Gulf of Aden. That is no longer the case and, for example, ships en route from the Far East for the Arabian Gulf are susceptible to attack. This means that more ships must take precautions and lengthens the time for which crew must remain in a state of readiness, increasing the burden on seafarers. Ships attacked well away from the concentration of naval forces in GoA cannot count on rapid military assistance and, with this in mind, pirates may maintain their attack for longer periods.

Regrettably, shipping will need to live with the risk of piracy for the foreseeable future as the only entirely effective remedy is action by littoral states.

The discussion continues within the industry, at a political level and among the general public on the tricky question of the use of arms by crew or private security guards. The majority view in the industry was against the use of armed guards. However, the escalation in violence has the consequence that the arguments are more evenly balanced. Shipowners’ organisations, governments and naval forces are now for the most part neutral and leave owners to make this difficult decision. See Section on armed guards for further information.

It is important to remember that piracy is not confined to GoA and Somalia. Continuing attacks in Nigerian waters are often characterised by violence.

Owners are encouraged to report all attacks regardless of location to the IMB reporting Centre on www.icc-ccs.org as it seems that many incidents go unreported.