Gulf of Guinea records 43% of all piracy incidents worldwide
Violence against crews is on the rise in comparison to previous years.
CAPE TOWN, April 15 (ANA) – A recent report released by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has shown that the Gulf of Guinea remains the world hot spot for piracy.
Forty-three percent of all incidents reported in the first quarter of this year came from the busy shipping waters off the continental west coast.
According to the report released on Wednesday, the latest global piracy report records 38 incidents since the start of 2021, compared with 47 incidents during the same period last year.
The report revealed that despite a drop in the number of reported piracy incidents for Q1 2021, violence against crews is on the rise in comparison to previous years.
IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) said that since the start of 2021, 40 crew have been kidnapped compared to 22 crew in Q1 2020. A crew member was also killed in Q1 2021.
In March, the Nigerian Navy and those of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy and France kicked off the largest annual multinational maritime exercise in West Africa.
The exercise was aimed at improving tactical interdiction expertise in the fight against piracy and other maritime illegalities within the Gulf of Guinea.
Losses from maritime piracy in West Africa amounted to more than US$800 million in 2017.
IMB director Michael Howlett said: “Pirates operating within the Gulf of Guinea are well equipped to attack further away from shorelines and are unafraid to take violent action against innocent crews.”
In January, pirates launched a deadly attack on a Turkish cargo ship off the Gulf of Guinea, killing one and taking 15 hostage.
The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) is a non-profit organisation established in 1981 to act as a focal point in the fight against all types of maritime crime and malpractice.
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher