2010 Sees Record Number of Pirate Attacks

The following is a guest blog post by the maritime piracy lawyers of Schechter, McElwee, Shaffer & Harris, LLP

With all the efforts and money being poured into antipiracy efforts across the globe, maritime attorneys would have expected a drop in such attacks. Far from it. 2010 saw record numbers of pirate attacks, with a total of 1,181 seamen taken captive from about 53 hijacked vessels. At least eight seamen were killed. The statistics come from the International Chamber Of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau.

Overall, shipping companies reported 445 pirate attacks in 2010. That was a 10% increase over the previous year. It's bad enough for safety advocates and maritime lawyers to wonder how much worse these numbers will get, before we begin seeing some improvement in antipiracy efforts.

It's clear that whatever we have done and continue to do, especially in and around the Horn of Africa and the Somali coastline, is simply not showing results. There has been some good news from the Gulf of Aden, where increased naval warship deployment has led to a drop in pirate attacks. However, in other pirate-infested spots across the globe including the waters off Lagos in Nigeria, the Port of Chittagong, the South China Sea, the Horn of Africa, the Somali coastline and the Indian Ocean, piracy continues to thrive.

Businesses and governments around the globe are bleeding to the tune of $7 billion-$12 billion a year from such pirate attacks. These include increased insurance premiums, costs from rerouting of vessels, purchase of security equipment, prosecutions, incarcerations, and lost business as a result of piracy operations. Worst of all, is the toll that these attacks continue to take on seamen. As of December 31, 2010, 28 vessels with 638 hostages were still being held by pirates.