Eleven Indian-managed merchant ships were victims of pirate attacks in the international sea waters in the last six months even as such attacks increased significantly in the first half of the year.

Rising attacks

Germany leads the victims list with a total of 33 ships followed by vessels from Singapore (32); Greece (31); Hong Kong (17) and Japan (12).

There were 266 pirate attacks of the world's seas in the first six months of 2011, up from 196 incidents in the same period last year, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) said.

Worldwide, 495 seafarers were taken hostage. Pirates killed seven people and injured 39. Ninety-nine vessels were boarded, 76 fired upon and 62 thwarted attacks were reported.

This trend should worry India as a large number of Indian sailors are on board vessels globally. In fact, after the Philippines, India provides the largest manpower to the global merchant shipping fleet, said a former master mariner.

Prying into Indian Ocean

More than 60 per cent of the attacks were by Somali pirates, a majority of which were in the Arabian Sea. As of June 30, Somali pirates were holding 20 vessels and 420 crew, and demanding ransoms of millions of dollars for their release.

“In the last six months, Somali pirates attacked more vessels than ever before and they are taking higher risks,” said the IMB Director, Mr Pottengal Mukundan. “This June, for the first time, pirates fired on ships in rough seas in the Indian Ocean during the monsoon season. In the past, they would have stayed away in such difficult conditions. Masters should remain vigilant,” he said.

Many of the attacks have been on the east and north-east of the Gulf of Aden, an area frequented by crude oil tankers sailing from the Arabian Gulf, as well as other traffic sailing into the Gulf of Aden.

Steps on to curtail

Since May 20, 14 vessels have been attacked in the Southern Red Sea. “It is necessary that shipboard protection measures are in place as they sail through this area,” said Mr Mukundan.

Although Somali pirates are more active – 163 attacks this year up from 100 in the first six months of 2010 – they managed to hijack fewer ships, that is, 21 in the first half compared with 27 in the same period last year. This is thanks to increased ship hardening and actions of international naval forces to disrupt pirate groups off the east coast of Africa.

Somali pirates took 361 sailors hostage and kidnapped 13 in the first six months of 2011.

Automatic Weapons

Ships, including oil and chemical tankers, are increasingly being attacked with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Whereas five years ago, pirates were just as likely to brandish a knife as a gun, this year, guns were used in 160 attacks and knives in 35.

The IMB PRC is the only manned centre to receive reports of pirate attacks 24 hours a day from across the globe. It has urged all shipmasters and owners to report all actual, attempted and suspected piracy and armed robbery incidents to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre.

comment COMMENT NOW