Pirates are getting more adept at hijacking ships as the number of attacks this year fell but the amount of seizures rose.

Unsurprisingly, Somalia once again grabbed the highlights in the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)’s nine-month report but a number of hotspots have developed on the other side of the globe.

Somali pirates accounted for 44% of a total of 289 piracy incidents worldwide in the first three quarters of the year. Of the 39 hijackings the region witnessed 35.

These figures show a rise in successful hijackings as the same period of 2009 saw 306 piracy incidents worldwide but just 34 hijackings.

“Navies from around the world helped prevent numerous attacks off the Horn of Africa, where their presence is vital in protecting merchant shipping against piracy,” the IMB report read on Monday.

“But despite a fall in the number of attacks in this piracy hotspot, the level of hijackings remained similar to that of last year.”

Somali pirates also increased their range of activity with the southern Red Sea seeing its first hijacking, that of the Greek 13,000-dwt chemical tanker Motivator (built 2007) on 4 July.

The vast majority of the 772 hostages taken in the first nine months of the year were in hijackings off Somalia while the only crew member reported to have been killed by pirates was also in the region.

This was the killing of the Pakistani master of the UAE-owned, 15,000-dwt QSM Dubai (built 1978) which was boarded in the Gulf of Aden on 2 June but stormed by Puntland troops and released the next day.

There was a notable success for shipping and navies in the Gulf of Aden in the period as the number of attacks was slashed from 100 to just 44.

Along with more effective naval patrols and vessel best management practice, particularly lengthy regional monsoons have also prevented much pirate activity.

The IMB report also highlighted the South China Sea as a new area of concern with 30 incidents in the first nine months.

Twenty one of these led to ship boardings, triple the amount from the same period last year.

Incidents off Indonesia soared from seven to 26 while the true number of attacks off Nigeria in the period is likely to have been significantly higher than just the 11 reported.