Piracy - Update And Overview

This time last year, we were into the second week of the hijacking of the M/V Faina. It was one of a cluster of ships taken in September 2008 and held near Hobyo, Somalia, and would take until January this year to be resolved. Other ships were being held near Eyl, Somalia, and one in three attacks in the Gulf of Aden and in the seas to the east of Somalia was proving successful. A year on, where are we?

There have been frequent attacks by pirates during this past September and with the monsoons abating, it does not take a soothsayer to predict an increase in the intensity of those attacks over the next few weeks. At the time of writing, there are four ships under pirates' control. The latest to be hijacked, on 2 October, was the Alakrana, a Spanish trawler which took the hijacked number to five but this small increase lasted only until the next day, when the Horizon 1 was released.

The summer lull has seen renewed efforts on the part of the international community, which are discussed below. The pirates have begun to appear on You Tube, interviewed by various news outlets and we have learned a little more about what motivates them (apart from money). They have confirmed that they see this as a business but, worryingly, that crews from Europe are more highly prized. The death of the Syrian master of the Barwaqo, whatever the circumstances, was a tragic reminder that the crew's safety cannot be taken for granted and that they remain very much in the front line.

In the past, we have seen the pirates prepared to adapt their tactics to meet the threat they face from the naval forces. The recent attack on the French supply vessel, the Somme, caused some mirth in the press but is more understandable because it happened in the dead of night when attacks have usually taken place in daylight. We have seen attacks in the past (such as on the Tanit) where the pirates have attacked almost out of desperation, operating hundreds of miles off shore where the lack of water and food has driven them to take risks they may otherwise have avoided. The concern must be that any more failed attacks may lead to more extreme measures on the part of the pirates. This may manifest itself by way of attacks in areas unaffected to date, such as off the coast of Oman, or attacks being pressed home by a greater number of skiffs.

Furthermore, whilst the headlines are dominated by Somalia, we must not overlook the continued problems both in the South China Seas and the Gulf...