SOMALI piracy is on the deepest decline since 2006, and while the Gulf of Guinea the latest hotspot, global figures still show a decline of total acts of piracy.
According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) report, the first six months of this year showed 138 Somali attacks compared to 177 in same period 2012, of which there were four reported incidents off the coast of Somali compared to 44 year previous.
Of these figures, seven were hijacking, compared to 20 the previous year, in which 127 seafarers were taken hostage against 334 in the first six months of 2012, according to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre.
In April 2013 alone, nine crew members were kidnapped from container vessels, one of the ships were 170 nautical miles from the coast.
"There has been a worrying trend in the kidnapping of crew from vessels well outside the territorial limits of coastal states in the Gulf of Guinea," said IMB director Pottengal Mukundan.
The latest count was 57 seafarers held to ransom on four vessels by Somali ships of which 11 are kidnapped crew members on land over the last three years, four since April 2010 and seven since September 2010.
The spread of attacks from the Gulf of Guinea westward from Benin to neighbouring Togo has seen an increase in 31 incidents and four hijackings so far this year, with attacks off Nigeria accounting for 22 of the incidents.
Mr Mukundan said that "significant under-reporting" is damaging the ability of robust targeting by international navies and puts risk other vessels sailing into the area without knowledge of perceived threat.
The decline has been attributed to the presence of international navies, preventative measures and the deployment of shipboard armed guards.
PIRACY
19 July 2013 - 22:24
Somali piracy decline lowest since 2006, says latest IMB report
SOMALI piracy is on the deepest decline since 2006, and while the Gulf of Guinea the latest hotspot, global figures still show a decline of total acts of piracy
PIRACY
19 July 2013 - 22:24
Somali piracy decline lowest since 2006, says latest IMB report
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