Piracy threat may be greater than the numbers suggest (source Lloyd’s List)

Piracy statistics can be confusing, with differing reports of approaches, boardings, attacks and kidnappings. The greater range of Nigerian pirates means difficult decisions for shipowners are made even more so

The International Maritime Bureau’s annual piracy report highlights the seriousness of the kidnapping threat off West Africa. Analysts say the picture is more complex than the numbers suggest

THE International Maritime Bureau’s annual report gives some idea of the scope of the west African piracy problem, but there is also much it leaves out. It showed 130 people were kidnapped in 22 incidents in the past year, compared with 121 crew in 17 incidents the year before. The bureau recorded 195 incidents worldwide in 2020, up from 162 — although this includes everything from petty overnight robberies from anchored vessels in the Singapore Strait to violent kidnaps in the Gulf of Guinea, where even failed attacks can traumatise seafarers. Incident tallies vary between piracy reports.

Ambrey, a UK security firm, said west Africa kidnappings fell from 159 people taken in 29 kidnapping incidents in 2019 to 142 crew kidnapped in 26 attacks in 2020.

Dryad Global, a consultancy, puts it at 138 crew kidnapped in 27 incidents last year, down from 177 crew in 28 incidents in 2019.

Piracy statistics can be confusing and do not tell the whole story.

Small changes in incident numbers can lead to big changes in percentages, which make for alarming headlines, but can make the situation look better or worse than it is.

The International Maritime Bureau recorded more kidnappings in 2020 than any previous year, all but five from the Gulf of Guinea. Robbery in the Singapore Straits remains a problem, but there were no attacks off Somalia for another year

Ian Ralby, chief executive of I.R. Consilium, a consultancy, said the IMB report did not delve into some of the key trends separating “red-herring issues versus matters of serious concern”.

Ambrey prefers to gauge the problem by the number of crew kidnapped per event: 4.5 was the median this year, with 14 crew the most taken in a single kidnapping.

But despite the statistics, the piracy threat is clear. On Wednesday, the Singapore-flagged, 4,500 teu Maersk Cardiff (IMO: 9529255) was attacked twice overnight off Bonny, Nigeria. The crew hid safely in the citadel.

“It is unacceptable in this day and age that seafarers cannot perform their jobs of ensuring a vital supply chain for this region without having to worry about the risk of piracy,” Maersk said in a statement.

Ambrey analyst Robert Peters said pirates’ increased range of attacks in the past two years was “a game changer”.

“Pirates are now operating in areas where security isn’t legally available,” he said. “There are fewer options for shipping companies to combat this and it has become more unpredictable.”

Route risk assessments can quickly go out of date, making it harder to decide whether to use security escort vessels or local armed guards (most Gulf of Guinea states prohibit foreign private guards).

Even ships with security escorts could be vulnerable outside their contracted security windows.

Ambrey said adherence to best management practices did not prevent pirates boarding ships — those with freeboards under 9m were particularly vulnerable — but they bought crews more time to hide in the citadel, which prevented kidnappings.

“Ambrey found the median number of crew members kidnapped could be halved when the criminals were detected early and when non-essential crew mustered in the citadel,” the firm said.

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But it noted that ship protection measures treated the symptoms, not the causes of piracy and armed robbery.

“Continued efforts to combat organised crime, strengthen governance, build inclusive societies and redistribute resources are necessary to address these causes in the medium and long term,” Ambrey said.

Jakob Larsen, head of maritime safety and security at BIMCO, said Nigeria had made good steps toward improving its antipiracy capabilities in the short term, but these would not be enough to do the job alone.

“We need Nigeria to welcome international antipiracy efforts even in their exclusive economic zone as mandated by international conventions,” he said. “And we need international navies to deploy with one to two frigates, competent boarding teams, helicopters and not least robust antipiracy mandates.”

Mr Larsen said Denmark’s defence minister had spoken honestly about what was needed and he hoped other countries would “join the fight, take responsibility and stop the pirates now”.

John Stawpert, manager for environment and trade at the International Chamber of Shipping, said he was encouraged by Nigeria’s efforts.

“A combination of Nigerian counter-piracy activity, deployment of non-regional forces in the Gulf of Guinea, and industry proactiveness in applying BMP mean that this should be the year where we see a reversal in the trends in piracy that have persisted in this region for far too long,” he said.