Emboldened Somali pirates pose a growing threat

On 3 November, pirates – believed to be operating from a fishing vessel repurposed as a mothership – attacked a Cayman Islands-flagged chemical tanker. This assault followed a report from a Seychelles-flagged fishing vessel, whose crew had encountered suspicious skiffs. The skiffs only retreated after the vessel’s onboard protection team fired warning shots.

Just three days later, on 6 November, a pirate group using a hijacked dhow as a mothership targeted a Malta-flagged product tanker. The pirates managed to board the vessel, prompting the crew to take refuge in the ship’s citadel. Hours later, a Spanish frigate from the EU Naval Force Operation ATALANTA boarded the tanker, discovering that the pirates had already fled, leaving the crew unharmed. The pirates returned to their mothership, which was later identified as a fishing dhow, and subsequent analysis indicated that the same mothership was involved in all the incidents.

From 7 to 11 November, EU Naval Forces tracked the vessel until it entered Somali territorial waters, where the pirates ultimately escaped.

Are we prepared to suppress the threat

The Somali piracy incidents in early November beg the question whether we are headed into a new Somali piracy crisis like the one we saw in the 2000s and early 2010s. It is always difficult to predict what will happen, but there are some indications that a Somali piracy surge is not around the corner.

First of all, the shipping industry knows how to mitigate against the piracy risk. Most ships still have some sort of self-defence measures implemented, and some ships even still employ the armed guards that appeared to be instrumental in curbing the piracy problem around a decade ago.

Furthermore, the navies are on their toes in the affected area. Although their force levels do not reach that of former times navies still maintain a decent overview of events and movements in the area, and in case of incidents the navies have also demonstrated ability to intervene.

Finally, the legal frameworks established a decade ago to enable handover by foreign navies of suspected pirates for prosecution in the region remains in place and can by all indications be “dusted off” relatively easily to ensure that law enforcement operations by navies are carried through all the way to the legal finish, which is essential to suppress the criminal networks contemplating initiating a piracy income stream.

Thorough risk assessment is essential

The shipping industry has a key role in contributing to the piracy problem not getting out of hand. All ships operating within reach of Somali pirates should perform a thorough ship- and voyage risk assessment, and follow the guidance laid down in the Best Management Practises for Maritime Security (BMP MS). BMP MS is developed by a group of shipping associations including BIMCO in consultation with key military stakeholders. It contains valuable guidance on where to find information about the threat, how to reduce vulnerabilities, how to plan and conduct operations in the threat area, and what to do during and after a pirate attack.

The BMP MS should be read in conjunction with the Maritime Industry Security threat Overviews (MISTO). BMP MS, MISTO can be found on the open website www.maritimeglobalsecurity.org together with other industry security guidance.