In its mid-year report for 2024, ICC’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has confirmed that the overall number of piracy incidents is down but violence towards seafarers is increasing.
In the first half of 2024, 60 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were recorded. This is compared to 65 incidents for the same period last year.
IMB has urged caution around Somalian waters and there remains a concern for workers in the Gulf of Guinea despite incidents there declining. The Indonesian archipelagic region and Bangladesh are regions that have seen increases in activities, meanwhile reporting in the Singapore Straits is down.
Guns and knives were reported in 34 of these cases, an increase compared to the first half of 2023. Of the 60 incidents reported, 46 vessels were boarded and perpetrators successfully boarded 84 percent of targeted ships.
85 crew members were taken hostage compared to 36 in the same period the previous year, with 11 kidnapped and two threatened.
ICC secretary general John W.H. Denton AO said: “While we are reassured to see a fall in the number of overall reported acts of piracy, the concerning rise in incidents of a violent nature underscores the need for continued vigilance from the international community to ensure the safety of all seafarers — especially at this time of heightened uncertainty for maritime transport.”
