Acts of piracy at historically low level in 2023

By AFP
January 09, 2024

BREST, France: Acts of piracy remained stable worldwide in 2023, at a historically low level, despite a resurgence of tension in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, a maritime security centre announced on Monday.

In this image, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon approaches the oiler USNS Kanawha (background) for replenishment-at-sea operation in the Red Sea on December 25, 2023. — AFP
In this image, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Laboon approaches the oiler USNS Kanawha (background) for replenishment-at-sea operation in the Red Sea on December 25, 2023. — AFP

A total of 295 acts of piracy and brigandage were recorded last year, compared with 300 in 2022, the lowest since statistics began in 2008, according to the annual review by the Maritime Information Cooperation & Awareness (MICA) Center, based in Brest, northwest France.

“The overall number of acts of piracy and robbery is stable,” the report said with an upward trend in South-East Asia being offset by a slight fall in the Caribbean arc. “Globally we are seeing stable trends”, despite “numerous areas of insecurity in the Indian Ocean”, Eric Jaslin, head of the MICA Center, told AFP.

The end of 2023 was marked by a wave of attacks by Yemen´s Iranian-backed Huthi rebels against merchant ships around the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Around 12 percent of world trade passes through this strait.

“The threat is violent, with missiles and drones loaded with explosives. There is a real concern around this strait”, Jaslin stressed. Last year, 47 attacks of this type were recorded, mainly around Bab-el-Mandeb, but also near the Strait of Hormuz (at the mouth of the Persian Gulf) and off the Indian coast.