Asia/Pacific News
OBP State of Maritime Piracy Report: SE Asian Piracy is Especially Dangerous, Continuing at Unacceptable Levels
Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP) says that Southeast Asian piracy is "especially dangerous for seafarers" given the quantity of attacks that took place in 2014, and the fact that pirates had a 90 percent success rate in boarding targeted vessels in the region.
The news comes with the release of the OBP's fifth annual State of Maritime Piracy Report, which analyses the impacts of maritime piracy in the Western Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Guinea, and Southeast Asia during 2014.
OBP says that nearly 3,600 seafarers were on board vessels boarded by pirates in Southeast Asia, and 800 seafarers were involved in incidents where violence or the threat of violence was specifically documented.
Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is also said to be continuing at "unacceptable levels" of piracy, with the report claiming a total estimated economic cost of $983 million for 2014.
OBP notes that the Gulf of Guinea faces both "chronic under-reporting of incidents" and "an absence of prosecutions" due to a lack of effective cooperation between regional governments and industry.
"We have observed that up to 70 percent of piracy-related incidents in the Gulf of Guinea are never reported, so we currently lack a complete understanding of the problem," says Pottengal Mukundan, Director of the International Maritime Bureau.
"This also makes it difficult to assess the extent of the threats seafarers face in this region."
Somalia Sees an Upturn in Regional Piracy
Meanwhile, OBP says indications that pirate activity and intent in Somalia remain, and cited a total estimated economic cost in the region of $2.3 billion.
However, while naval mandates, recommended industry self-protection practices and the size of the High Risk Area remain unchanged in the Somali region, OBP says collective efforts to address piracy in the area are weakening.
"We are already seeing an upturn in regional piracy incidents since the beginning of the year," says Alan Cole, Head of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC's) Global Maritime Crime Programme.
Overall, at least 5,000 seafarers are said to have been attacked in Southeast Asia, the Gulf of Guinea, and Western Indian Ocean in 2014.
In March, alongside news that piracy had hit 10-Year high, the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) said bunker piracy accounted for the majority of "very significant" piracy incidents in Asia.
