Following pirate attacks on seagoing tanker vessels off West Africa in the Gulf of Guinea (GOG), the Maritime Information Cooperation and Awareness Center (MICA), France-based branch of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), says GOG recorded three pirate attacks in 2022.
Lowest Level
In a report released by IMB, weekend, MICA noted that worldwide acts of piracy fell to their lowest level last year since statistics were first established in 2008. It said there were 300 reported acts of piracy and robbery against ships last year.
The IMB had already reported in its quarterly report in October that such acts were at their lowest level since 1992. “It’s never been lower,” MICA’s commander, Eric Jaslin, said. “You never know what tomorrow may bring in terms of piracy. We advise continued caution,” he warned.
Changing Course
Many former pirates have turned to other activities such as illegal oil refining or transporting stolen crude, said Katja Lindskov Jacobsen, a Copenhagen University researcher quoted in the report. Robberies in territorial waters distinct from piracy, which is defined as taking place in the high seas, continue at a high level, and were even on the rise in the Malacca and Singapore Straits, the report said. “Drug and arms trafficking, smuggling and armed conflict at sea also still posed dangers for shipping”, Jaslin said.
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Source: Thetidenewsonline
