Real Pirates! Weekly Piracy Report!

[News Crew]

The International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) released a couple of reports earlier this week, the first lists the number of attempted hijackings in the Gulf of Aden and off east-coast Somalia so far this year as compared to all of 2008. According to the report, the number of attacks has greatly increased, but the number of successful hijackings is down so far this year.  In 2008, there were 111 incidents including 42 vessels hijacked. So far in 2009, there have been 29 successful hijackings from 114 attempted attacks.  The Gulf of Aden has been the site of a total of 71 attacks so far in 2009, of which 17 resulted in successful hijacks. In 2008, there were 32 hijacks from a total of 92 attacks. This year has seen a surge in activity off the east coast of Somalia, with 43 attacks so far compared to 19 in the whole year 2008.  There has also been an increase in the number of vessels fired upon in these regions. In 2008, there were 39 instances of vessels taking fire from pirates. Already this year, there have been 54 cases. You can read the full report HERE (http://www.icc-ccs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=352irate-attacks-off-somalia-already-surpass-2008-figures&catid=60:news&Itemid=51)  In another report, the The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB), in consultation with the International Chamber of Shipping, INTERTANKO and BIMCO dismissed recent media reports that pirates were coordinating their attacks with the help of a world wide network that was tracking shipping across the globe. IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan commented: “Such unfounded speculation is mischievous and unhelpful. It unjustly detracts from the good work done so far by the international naval forces and other agencies and diverts attention from the important task of providing a practical response to the difficult challenges in the region.”  Further allegations have been made in the press that London-based information channels have been utilised to provide intelligence to the pirate gangs. There is no evidence to support these allegations. Further, there is no information in the public domain that would enable pirates to precisely locate a targeted vessel at sea and then to mount a successful attack off the Horn of Africa. You can read that full report HERE. (http://www.icc-ccs.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=353ping-industry-dismisses-reports-of-targeted-somali-pirate-attacks&catid=60:news&Itemid=51) Read on for this weeks Weekly Piracy Report!
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