Web alert: IMB publishes second quarter report on piracy and armed robbery for 2016

The IMB has published its report on piracy and armed robbery for the second quarter of 2016, covering the period from 1 January to 30 June 2016. It is reported that piracy and armed robbery at sea has fallen to its lowest levels since 1995.

98 incidents have been reported in the first six months of 2016, with 72 ships boarded, 15 attempted attacks, five vessels hijacked and nine vessels fired upon. This represents a decrease from 2015 when there were 134 reported incidents in the same period.

In relation to crew, the IMB reports that 64 crew members were taken hostage down from 250 in the same period last year, three assaulted, four injured and 44 kidnapped.

The following six countries compose the main bulk of the 98 reported incidents for 2016:

Southeast Asia/Indonesia

The majority of reported incidents in 2016 have taken place in Indonesia. Attacks in Southeast Asia tend to be low-level in nature and take place at night. Ships should maintain strict anti-piracy watches and report any incident or suspicious behaviour to local authorities and the IMB.

Gulf of Guinea/Nigeria

Despite global improvements, kidnappings are on the rise, with 44 crew members captured in 2016, 24 of them in Nigeria, up from 10 in the first half of 2015. Nigerian attacks are often violent, accounting for eight of the nine vessels fired upon worldwide. The IMB considers that in reality there are significantly more attacks than those reported.

Members should be aware of the change in reporting for piracy events in the Gulf of Guinea, as advised by the club on 20 June 2016 in the following web alert.

Gulf of Aden/Somalia

There has only been one reported incident in this region in 2016, although 29 crew members continue to be held for ransom by suspected Somali pirates.

Attack by ship-type

The main ship-types affected are as follows:

The club continues to advise members to be cautious about reported low levels of piracy incidents, especially off Somalia. We consider that a risk still remains, despite the reduced number of incidents in 2016.

We strongly recommend that members comply with the latest version of Best Management Practices (version 4) and related guidance in all affected areas.

For further information, please contact your usual contact at the club or the authors of this article.