The threat of maritime piracy has escalated significantly in the past few years. The ‘maritime network’, daily, have a new incident to report about pirates attacking a crew and looting the vessel or hijacking a ship, and even inflicting significant injury to the crew when their ransom demands are not met by the shipping authorities.
We have listed a shortlist of 10 piracy affected areas where the terror and threat of sea pirates have escalated, this is however, sadly not an exhaustive list:
1. Malacca Straits: The Strait of Malacca, within the Indian Ocean has been a very prominent area affected by marine piracy.
2. South China Sea: Mostly Malaysians or Indonesians, the marine ‘bootleggers’ in the South China Sea are regarded to be amongst the most dangerous pirates who ply their reprehensible trade.
3. Gulf of Aden: The entrance to the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden is another extremely politically affected piracy area.
4. Gulf of Guinea: As of late an incipient area of piracy, the Gulf of Guinea spans a major portion of North-Western and Southern Africa (Angola).
5. Benin: Benin is another terrestrial area plague-ridden with piracy. The area has been listed as one of the high-risk areas in terms of shipping.
6. Nigeria: Nigeria in the Western part of Africa is synonymous with piracy. Its at such a level, that it has been rated as being one of the riskiest areas for any form of maritime transportation.
7. Somalia: The main reason for piracy occurring at vast quantities in Somalia is because of extreme poverty in the region.
8. Indonesia: Indonesia is also amongst the highly affected piracy areas in the world. Some of the areas that are targeted by the sea pirates are the Anambas, Natuna and the Merundung Islands, where the pirates modus operandi is to attack ships under cover of darkness, as opposed to in the daylight.
9. Arabian Sea: The Gulf of Oman is a stretch of water, which has been targeted repeatedly not only by sea pirates but used as a pawn in political posturing exercises by Iran in particular.
10. Indian Ocean: The Indian Ocean is also falling prey to the acts of sea pirates. These pirates hail from the ravaged nation of Somalia and have been causing problems to Indians as far south as Mozambique, fast becoming one of the world’s most active maritime areas for drug smuggling and piracy.
#security#maritime Marine piracy is a criminal activity that requires specific intelligence and security cover when transiting these areas, whether in a cargo or private vessel.
There is a global uplift in piracy activities. In the best interests of not just the trading community but also that of the crew members lives involved, a robust and proactive secure option needs to be undertaken more so than ever on our seas today.
Call our Global Maritime specialists for an initial introduction into our service provision
