Piracy and armed robbery against ships hit their lowest level for 28 years in 2022, driven by sharp declines off the coast of West Africa and in the Caribbean.
The International Maritime Organization’s annual piracy report documented 131 incidents last year, a 24% cut from the previous year and the “lowest number of reported incidents at the global level since 1995”.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy and the main alleged source of West African piracy, launched a $195m campaign in mid-2021 to tackle the problem. But officials this week warned that the problems in the region remain far from solved following the kidnapping of six crew members of a product tanker in March.
The data suggests declines in piracy across most areas around the globe, particularly off West Africa, the Caribbean and the South China Sea. The most affected area, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, showed only a slight increase of two cases to 72.
The IMO data showed that the number of crew members taken hostage or kidnapped in 2022 was down by half on the previous year to 24, mostly in West African waters.
The declines have continued into 2023. The anti-piracy body, the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB), said there were just 27 attacks in the first quarter, down from 37 in the same period last year.
But the IMB last month called for a continued robust regional and international naval presence to deter piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, off West Africa, after two hijacking incidents in three weeks.
The 13,700-dwt Monjasa Reformer (built 2003) was hijacked off the coast of the Republic of Congo and was uncontactable for five days before it was located by a French Navy vessel with six seafarers missing.
Monjasa said on Monday that the six seafarers had been freed and were in “relatively” good health after five weeks in an undisclosed location in Nigeria.
