What is Piracy?

Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship- or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable items or properties. Those who engage in acts of piracy are called pirates. 

“In the maritime and shipping industries, the term piracy is well known and feared, particularly by those who navigate international waters with valuable vessels, cargo and passengers on board. By definition, the term piracy refers to robbery or theft of a vessel and its property. Although, now the scope has broadened to include criminal violence at sea. It is imperative that all precautions are taken and vessels owners who navigate international waters are aware of the risks involved and steps to take in the event of piracy.” Definition by Starting Business.

IMO – the International Maritime Organization – is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships. The IMO determines that Piracy consists of any of the following acts (based on Article 101 of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)

Any illegal acts of violence or detention committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship on the high seas, against another ship, or against persons or property on board such ship. The illegal acts are committed against a ship, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State. A person will be deemed a pirate if they voluntary participate in the operation of a ship with knowledge that it is a pirate ship.

Modern piracy. ... According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), the piracy can be defined as “the act of boarding any vessel with intent to commit theft or any other crime, and with an intent or capacity to use force in furtherance of that act”.

The term “pirate” may create an image of a bearded man with an eye patch, wooden leg and a parrot. For others they will think of Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. Contemporary maritime pirates are certainly not like this and they pose a major threat to shipping and trade all over the world.

Contemporary maritime piracy reached its peak level in 2010, with around 445 reported incidents. The region’s most likely to be threatened by pirate attacks include Indonesia, Somalia and Nigeria. Here, pirates are attracted by the large quantity of natural resources that are shipped just of their coastlines. The Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Guinea and the Malacca Strait are notorious targets for maritime piracy.

Where there is a sea there are pirates. Greek Proverb

Basic Piracy Information

Maritime Piracy has become more widespread in the last two decades. Piracy initially became an issue off the East coast of Africa around the Somali Coastline. This very busy shipping route is known as the Gulf of Aden. The factors which drove this piracy were political instability of the Somalian government, poverty and the illegal commercial fishing in Somali waters. Piracy was brought under some control in this region due to an international response involving NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and combined international naval deployment in the region. However, piracy has spread to other internal shipping routes, in regions such as SE Asia, West Africa and Indian Ocean. Today it continues to be a real threat to maritime safety and protecting all major shipping routes is extremely difficult. Any protection requires extensive amounts of resources, manpower, money, equipment and intelligence information. Because piracy occurs mainly at sea it is not under the jurisdiction of any one country and therefore a cooperative international approach is imperative. The factors which lead people to become or to be involved in piracy are numerous and complex. Therefore, solutions to piracy are also complex.

The existence of the sea means the existence of pirates

. Malayan Proverb

Where does it happen –

The spread of modern day maritime piracy is not restricted to one particular sea area. It has become widespread in almost every part of the world.

The terror and threat of sea piracy is considered the greatest in the following 10 sea areas:

1. Malacca Straits: Located in the Indian Ocean the Straits the gateway to one of the most important Indonesian navigation routes which makes it susceptible to high incidences of maritime piracy. There is a severe threat in this region with high frequencies of hijacking, extended duration cargo theft and criminal boarding.

2. South China Sea: Piracy is mainly in the Malaysian water area. The pirates are mostly Malaysians or Indonesians and are considered to be amongst the most dangerous pirates. There is a severe threat in this region.

3. Gulf of Aden: The Gulf of Aden is positioned close to Somalia. It is an important trading route leading into the Suez Canal which allows vessels access to Europe.

4. Gulf of Guinea: The Gulf of Guinea covers a large area of North-Western and Southern Africa (Angola). It is a very important trade route for crude oil tankers to the European and American continents - this makes this area an attractive target for piracy activities.

5. Benin: Benin in Africa is another geographic area infested with maritime pirates and is now considered to be a very high risk area.

6. Nigeria: The threat of piracy in Nigeria, West Africa is so high in this region that it has been rated as being one of the most risky areas for marine cargo transportation. There are frequent hijacking and attacks, characterised by crew kidnapping and often lethal violence.

7. Somalia: The main reason for marine piracy in Somalia is because of extreme poverty in the region due to the civil war, ineffective government, illegal commercial fishing and the illegal dumping of toxic marine waste. Maritime piracy in Somalia is a cause of international concern as the people of the country have come to believe that piracy is the only option available to them to ward off poverty. Although no large commercial vessels have been hijacked recently off Somalia, incidents and sightings indicate a severe threat remains.

8. Indonesia: Indonesia is also amongst the highly affected piracy areas in the world. The main areas that are targeted by the sea pirates are the Anambas, Natuna and the Merundung Islands. The Indonesian authorities’ do not punish captured pirates which is a major concern.

9. Arabian Sea: Particularly the Gulf of Oman is one of the sea areas which has been targeted repeatedly by the sea pirates. At present there is limited naval support in this area.

10. Indian Ocean: The Indian Ocean is an unavoidable marine navigation route. Somali pirates are active in these waters, causing a lot of problems for authorities and shipping companies across the world.

Marine piracy needs to be addressed urgently. The collaborated efforts of many international maritime stakeholders are to address the piracy issue and are having some positive impacts on piracy in some areas. However, in other areas there are some major obstacles, the limited security cover provided by navies, unstable governments in piracy areas, minimal convictions and imprisonment for captured pirates. These factors will lead to a greater spread of maritime piracy.

Top ten Piracy hotspot. 

Useful Link

Causes of Piracy 

1) PROCESSES/FACTORS WHICH CAUSE PIRACY - WAY OF LIFE NO CHOICES

“Everyone I know...is either a pirate or is involved indirectly in piracy”

NGO Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP), did an informal survey of prisoners convicted of maritime piracy. The main reason they gave for piracy was poverty. One prisoner said "I was out of money so I decided to join the pirates in order to get food." Another prisoner meanwhile admitted "my family is poor, so that's why I joined the pirates."

If these poor people had stability and peace through prosperity, they wouldn't turn to piracy.

Chronic unemployment in developing countries and areas means that people are not ever going to be able to find a job. This means some people may only have occasional informal work and there is little or no opportunity for work in the future. In places like Somalia people became pirates when they were unable to find any means of earning money to survive after twenty years of civil war.

A number of communities in places like Sumatra bordering the Malacca Strait and in Indonesia and the Philippines along the Sulu and Celebes Seas rely on piracy and other illegal maritime activities for economic survival.

With essentially no economy – meaning no livelihood for many – piracy has arisen as a profitable and worthwhile occupation.

In many areas where pirates operate there is a social acceptance of their activities. In poor areas, piracy brings additional money into the economy. Pirates will spend money in the local communities. Money from ransom’s and thefts from the ships and crews has created businesses e.g. new restaurants, bars, construction projects and even employment people to act as the pirates’ accountants and negotiators. In some areas pirate activity is supported by some members of the government.

‘Feed them or shoot them" This argument is extreme but does show poverty is a significant motivator for pirates

Piracy will continue while countries are impoverished and they are affected by poor governance, corruption and poverty. Governments have to work more closely to combat piracy, but only when root causes of piracy are addressed can the security of shipping be assured.

"If enough impoverished areas of the world feel that what the pirates have carried out has been very successful, this will spread."

©Geostuff Ltd. Version 2 - Oct 2017

2) 

PROCESSES/FACTORS WHICH CAUSE PIRACY - LIMITED SAFEGUARDING OF THE SHIP

"The key to most avoidance of piracy attacks is vigilance—hardening the ship, and having a very motivated crew with a good attitude toward surveillance, and knowing what to do if you're under threat."

Some shipping areas have navel patrols. But these naval vessels have large areas to patrol, for example, the Nato vessels patrolling the India Ocean have been compared to having 3 police cars for the whole of western Europe. This means that ships are vulnerable to pirate attacks.

It is therefore vital that shipping companies take action to reduce the chance of a pirate attack on their vessels. Measures such as ship hardening, well trained and well paid crews, support from maritime security companies, armed patrols, increasing cruising speeds, etc.

OBP estimated that the international community spent about $us1.3 billion in an attempt to keep vessels safe from pirates in 2015. This was through measures such as naval deployments, embarked guards, vessel hardening, increased speed and rerouting, and prosecutions and imprisonment.

Physically safeguarding or hardening a ship can cost between $US5,000 and $US15,000. This involves installing barbed wire, reinforcing exposed ship doors, build “safe rooms” inside the hull to wait out attacks, and add water cannons and alarms. Unfortunately, this is expensive and some ship-owners still try to minimise costs, by not hardening or only partially harden their vessels.

“If you’re operating in a high-risk environment, you also need to physically harden your ship.”

Despite the hardening of ships, training of crew, citadels (ships version of a panic room for crew to hide in) vessels still remains vulnerable to attack.

Shipping companies may also reduce the size of the crews on vessels in order to save money. This leads to overwork and fatigue which makes the vessel more vulnerable to attack. A smaller crew is less able to keep constant watch or respond to threats. Even if that crew are well-trained in counter-piracy measures, it will be difficult for them to maintain a high degree of alertness during the whole of the several days that a vessel will take to transit a high risk area. Compounding this crew size issue for shipping companies is the fact that a ship’s crew have the right to refuse to enter a high risk areas and are entitled to double the daily basic wage in addition to a death and disability compensation. This of course has impacts on the profitability and encourages companies to save money and take their chances with a smaller crew.

Pirates prefer their targets "low and slow". Therefore cruising faster will help to discourage pirates. The problem with increasing cruising speed is the increase in costs. For example, if a super tanker increases its cruising speed to 17.9 knots from the more economic speed of 12.8 knots, this will adds an extra $US88,000 in fuel costs to that tanker per day.

Pirates prefer their targets "low and slow"

In recent times, the waters in areas such as the Gulf of Guinea and Indonesia have been designated as high risk piracy areas. The suggestion is that these waters should be treated the same as the Gulf of Aden and waters near Somalia were when they were high risk areas. With international naval vessels, in addition to vessels from the neighbouring countries. In the Gulf of Aden some of the laws around armed guards and military force were conveniently overlooked. This level of protection and defence was probably one of the key factors in bring piracy in this area under control. Although armed guards and military force continues to be used in some areas in others it is strictly forbidden most notably in the Gulf of Guinea.

“To date, no ship with armed security has been successfully hijacked”.

The present limited permitted use of armed guards and military force in some region mean that a solution to piracy will be complex requiring a combination of tactics including vessel-protection measures, region specific training for the ship crew, and information sharing.

Any methods a shipping company uses to increase a ships level of protection has got to put some pirates off. But there are still many vessels that are soft options, sitting ducks, waiting for pirates to attack.

3) 

PROCESSES/FACTORS WHICH CAUSE PIRACY - INEQUALITIES IN DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH

“Piracy tends to be conducted or supported by marginalized communities that have not been participating in economic development.”

Dr. Bueger - editor of Pirate-Studies.org

Without doubt many people become pirates because they are really desperate, with no income it is very likely that economic deprivation has a big part in the decision for people to engage in piracy. This is certainly the driving force for the initial Somali pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden. When illegal commercial fishing vessels began taking three times more fish (132,000 metric tons) than the Somali fishermen (40,000 metric tons) each year.

With the rapid depletion of fish in their waters Somali fishermen were unable to sustain their livelihood. Compounding this was the lack of other means to make a living. The infertile and drought prone soils make agriculture unpredictable. The lack of government support for the impoverished means that fishermen, their families and their communities became desperate. This blatant stealing and resulting marginalisation of the fishermen caused increased poverty and was one of the major causes of piracy in this region.

It is clear that piracy in West Africa and other regions, has many of the same root causes as piracy in Somalia. To a large degree the inequalities in the distribution of wealth particular that generated from a countries resources particularly oil and gas.

Driven by the extreme economic inequalities. Local people in many countries witness international companies taking their resources and sharing the benefits and profits with only a few. In these circumstances it is not hard to understand why some would turn that any into crimes such as piracy.

Lawlessness, desperation, poverty, greed and even political extremism have more recently brought piracy to the waters of South America, Asia and, perhaps most aggressively, to West Africa.

In Nigeria piracy is driven mainly by corruption in the oil sector.

“Corruption and fraud are rampant in the country’s oil sector, and the lines between legal and illegal supplies of Nigerian oil can be blurry.”

Chatham House – British Research group

In such a climate pirates have an incentive to steal oil, since they know that they will be able to sell it on the black market.

There are many factors that have led to the increasing in pirate activity. These include lax maritime rules and regulations, poverty, the impact of ecological degradation and over-fishing and the existence of organised crime groups and radical politically motivated organisations. Responses to piracy have to address most, if not all, of these problems and issues. Combating piracy is consequently a difficult and complex task, requiring more than the patrolling of piracy- prone waters. However, the inequality of wealth is a key issue that must not be overlooked.

I would advise the international community to address quickly the root causes of piracy which are poverty, unemployment, and illegal fishing........ Coastal communities are neglected. They need development projects aimed at improving their living conditions as well as deterring youth from piracy”

Nor Hagi Mowlid, Somali Fisherman

Pirates based in the Gulf of Guinea said the only way to get a share of the region's oil wealth is to rob ships. "They're eating the oil companies' money while we go hungry. We have to collect their money in order to survive.

4) 

PROCESSES/FACTORS WHICH CAUSE PIRACY - AT SEA NO JURISDICTION AND LIMITED PUNISHMENT

Piracy, is a crime of opportunity. Many people choose to become pirates because they live in areas with minimal law enforcement and where the prospective rewards of their activity are maximized. Piracy flourished off the Somali coast through the early 2000s reaching its peak between 2008 and 2011. Piracy has quickly grown in other areas to become the international threat that it is today.

Piracy is different from many other international crimes. As it occurs at sea it is outside the jurisdiction of any state. However, piracy is considered a crime that falls under universal jurisdiction, meaning that any state has the right, but not the obligation, to prosecute pirates captured either by their own navy or by another state. Unfortunately with no clear guidelines prosecution and imprisonment become very complex. Many pirates and syndicates are therefore operating with minimal consequences and this is compounding the issue.

Prosecutions are difficult to carry out if states and international organizations do not have adequate data about piracy attacks. Underreporting of pirate attacks is a significant and persistent problem. There are a number of reasons vessels may not report an attack, it is usually because the state or company does not want to risk its reputation and concerns over potential liability. A record of frequent pirate attacks may lead to a poor safety record for private shipping companies, so ship captains often feel that they would be better off not reporting an incident. Submitting a report can also lead to costly shipping delays as port or coastal states may wish to carry out an investigation, which can take days or weeks.

Compounding this is the fact that many ship captains also question the integrity and efficacy of local authorities. Many countries on major sea trading routes are extremely corrupt and politically unstable this allows piracy to flourish....for example Nigeria and the Republic of Congo are ranked among the world’s most corrupt countries. These countries struggle to bring pirates and syndicate members to justice and pass prison sentences.

Many countries on major sea trading routes are also impoverished and consequently have limited naval capacity to cope with the levels of piracy in their waters. Without international assistance they are fighting a losing and costly battle.

All these factors, together with lax maritime rules and regulations, poverty, the existence of organised piracy syndicates and radical political organisations in many shipping trade routes result in continued and in some areas increasing incidence of piracy activity.

Combating piracy an extremely difficult and complex task. In order to be successful, responses have to consider and address most of these issues. Which requires more than the patrolling of piracy-prone waters.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) is urging governments to investigate and identify the kidnappers and punish them under law. It is essential that governments work together on a strategy in order to response, prosecution, and imprisonment of sea criminals. If this is not done then piracy will continue to flourish.

It is necessary to continue identifying and prosecution pirates. To do this it is essential that there is effective information collected and sharing systems. In 2015 prosecutions and imprisonment of convicted pirates, cost roughly $US7 million. A commitment to rule of law and justice is an expensive business.

Alan Cole-Global Maritime Crime Programme “......international navies, armed guards, and the prosecution of pirates have all played a decisive role, and will continue to keep the pirates on the back foot."

5) 

PROCESSES/FACTORS WHICH CAUSE PIRACY - ORGANISED PIRACY SYNDICATES

Today a high percentage of maritime piracy is carried out by sophisticated syndicates. These syndicates are virtually indistinguishable from many other businesses, except they are illegal.

In the early 2000s piracy became an issue in the Gulf of Aden. In this region fisherman had become disgruntled with illegal commercial fishing in the waters off the Somali coastline. These fishermen became the Somali pirates. The pirates generally worked in small informal groups and attacked the commercial fishing vessels in an attempt to drive them out of their fishing waters. Over the last decade the nature of piracy has changed.

The types of vessels attacked has changed. From the initial attacks on commercial fishing vessels which had limited success the pirates began to realise that kidnap and ransom was a far better way in which to make money. In some cases small bands of pirates would attack a ship to rob the crew and steal equipment.

In many regions pirates now belong to well organised piracy syndicates and are armed with sophisticated weapons and maritime equipment. These syndicates are going for a bigger prize - the ship’s cargo and more increasingly crude and palm oil.

Oil Siphoning Incidents rise sharply in SE Asia

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Oil Siphoning Incidents

0 2 4 4 17 13

Source: Oceans Beyond Piracy

The nature of the attacks is also changing. There is an increase in the use of guns and most disturbingly the level of violence inflicted on the crew has escalated.

Increase in the number of guns reported in piracy attacks 48 reports in 2016 compared to 33 in 2015 In 2016 151 hostages were taken and 62 crew were kidnapped

Credits: icc-ccs.org http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/555.jpg

It is easy for these syndicates to recruit pirates. It was recently reported by a Somali news agency –Hiiraan Online that members of the crime syndicate ISIL had recruited 40 young men from a coastal village. With no work available, these young men have very few options.

The heads of the pirate syndicates are well connected and often above the law. The pirates are at the bottom of the syndicate there is no shortage of men who want to become pirates. The pirates are often desperate and highly motivated. Often they are local seafarers who have an excellent knowledge of the area’s waters. The spoils from piracy do trickle down to them and the rewards are good. If an attack goes wrong it is the pirates who pay with their lives or potentially their freedom if they are prosecuted. The syndicate bosses and other people in the syndicates like the fixer and boarding team leader generally only lose money. This lost money will be easily made up in the next successful attack.

In many maritime trading routes the countries are politically unstable and corrupt. This is an advantage to the pirate syndicates who operate in these regions.

6)

PROCESSES/FACTORS WHICH CAUSE PIRACY - ILLEGAL COMMERCIAL FISHING

“Somali maritime violence is a response to greedy Western nations, who invade and exploit Somalia's water resources illegally. It is not a piracy, it is self-defence. It is defending the Somalia children's food.”

Muammar al-Gaddafi

The pirates are often desperate and frustrated local fisherman whose waters were being commercially fished and who had no other source of income.

Most people in Somalia earn their money from fishing. For generations my family have been fishermen. With little opportunity for a formal education there are few ways to earn money. Fishing had always provided enough income for a decent basic lifestyle. The average Somali lives on less than $2 a day. The fishermen although poor, were comparatively well off by national standards.

"Life became tough not only for us but most of the people in this town. Then the little fish that was left was swept clean by the trawlers - illegal trawlers."

The problem for fishermen started in the 1990’s Somali waters have become an international fishing "free for all," with international commercial fishing trawlers illegally plundering Somalia’s lobster and other fish stocks. According to a U.N. report, an estimated $US300 million worth of seafood is stolen each year. The situation has been made worse by the illegal dumping of toxic waste by foreign vessels. With the chronic depletion of sea stocks and soils too rocky and dry to support farming the fishermen had no other way to support their families. With no effective government and no legitimate employment many in Somalia, the attraction of piracy is clear. Initially the pirates were just attacking fishing vessels in the hope that the vessels would leave their waters and the pirates could regain their fishing grounds. Unfortunately they quickly realised that these efforts were a waste of time and that they could make more money capturing cargo ships.

If Western nations are truly concerned about eradicating the piracy issue maybe they should simply stop stealing Somali resources and polluting their waters.

Some pirates claim they have no choice—they must feed their families. “...when evil is the only solution, you do evil. That is why we are doing piracy. I know it is evil, but it is a solution.” A Somali pirate Newsweek (2008).

Some of these poor Somali fishermen who turned into gun-toting pirates, who haver skill and knowledge of the sea. The pirates often refer to themselves as badaadinta badah or "saviours of the sea". They believed that stealing cargo and ransom-taking was a legitimate form of compensation from the giant foreign ships. These pirates act like modern day Robin Hoods as they ‘rob from the rich and give to the poor’. Much of the ransoms go back to the coastal towns as well as families affected by the polluting and illegal fishing.

“NATO and the EU never helped us, never gave us a hand” Somali Fisherman The international community has done very little to combat illegal fishing in the Somali waters

Pirates are now in it for the money. Still defending their way of life, many pirates have lost the ideal of “doing good” that they once tried to maintain. They own expensive homes and cars. When not “working,” they spend their time vacationing in exotic locations. Many have joined piracy syndicates and for many it is no longer a question of survival. Now it’s just greed that motivates them. The average pirate can make more money from one “job” than he could earn from many years fishing.

"Illegal fishing and extreme poverty are the main factors that made fishermen and youth involved in piracy as an alternative opportunity of getting their daily bread”

Nor Hagi Mowlid, Somali Fisherman

“The damage is so extensive that even if trawling were stopped today, this area may need years to recover ......We lack the ability to police our vast waters”

Current Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud

7) PROCESSES/FACTORS WHICH CAUSE PIRACY - SHIPPING ROUTES

The Piracy’s hotspots worldwide tend to be close to failed states. Most of the maritime transit routes take ships close to those states through regions such as, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Guinea and the Malacca Straits.

The most attractive loot for pirates today is crude oil or palm oil. Nearly half the world’s oil, and much of the energy products are imported by China and Japan, and are transported through the key shipping routes of Southeast Asian, particularly the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. The Gulf of Guinea is also a key transit route for oil tankers from Nigeria. These regions - the Horn of Africa and the Strait of Malacca appeal to pirates because they are relatively narrow (choke points”) must-use routes for shippers—are serious threats to trade. The increased levels in piracy in these regions is of serious concern for oil tanker captains and their crew.

These “choke points” are very crowded waterways. Strangely, Rather than making it harder for pirates to operate, experts said these crowded waterways of the region make it easier for pirates to blend in.

It's a common in these waterways for two vessels to tie up to each other and transfer fuel or other cargoes, for entirely legitimate, commercial reasons. This practice could be observed from the shorelines of key transit routes like Singapore. As a CNBC reporter recently commented that he witnessed the practice happening simultaneously in two different places. If this was pirate activity it would be hard to detect from the shore line or even from passing vessels.

"Ships pass by and see two vessels together transferring cargo, that's not uncommon at sea. And on radar, it just looks like two little blips. Those could be fishing boats." Pottengal Mukundan - International Maritime Bureau

The major maritime transit routes are often very busy waterways. Ships transiting these waterways are often referred to as “low and slow” and represent perfect targets for pirates. To avoid pirates the vessels ideally need to travel at greater speeds. However, this is not economical and adds considerable costs for the shipping companies. If a super tanker increases its speed to 17.9 knots from its typical 12.8 knots, it would cost an extra $88,000 in fuel per day.

These transit routes are extremely difficult to police. The surrounding countries are often impoverished with small under resourced navies. These navies require support from other countries. For example, in the Gulf of Aden, Nato has four naval vessels operating in addition to American and Russia vessels. However, it is impossible for these vessels to police the entire region. The Nato vessels patrolling the India Ocean have been compared to having 3 police cars for the whole of Western Europe.

©Geostuff Ltd. Version 2 - Oct 2017