2 Piracy - a growing problem
5. In 2004, the National Union of Marine, Aviation
and Shipping Transport Officers (Numast) launched a campaign against
piracy.[3] Our evidence
shows why Numast, and other organisations, are right to be concerned.
6. Piracy is a particular problem in Indonesia and
the Malacca Straits, the Gulf of Guinea and Somalia. In November
2005, there was a violent attack by pirates on the Seabourn
Spirit, a cruise ship with UK citizens, off the coast of Somalia.[4]
That attack failed, but there were many other attacks in Somali
waters in 2005, some of which succeeded.[5]
7. The increase in piracy near Somalia was mirrored
elsewhere. Two years earlier, press reports indicated that piracy
had reached 'record levels' and extended to Indonesia, Bangladesh,
India, the South China Sea, and Malaysia, in addition to Somalia.[6]
Two of the attacks reported in 2003 were on UK-flagged ships,
and three were on UK-controlled or managed vessels. In another
incident, British officers on board an Isle of Man-registered
supply ship were seized at gunpoint off the coast of Nigeria.
They were held hostage and manhandled and had their personal possessions
stolen before a ransom was paid.[7]
8. The largest number of incidents in 2005,
more than one third of the total number, occurred in the South
China Sea which has seen the largest number of incidents in each
year for the last decade.[8]
The Indian Ocean and East Africa had the next largest number of
incidents at around 50 each. Location
of incidents and attempted and actual piracy and armed robbery
against ships in 2005
9. The total of 266 reported incidents in 2005 may
have been the lowest for six years,[9]
but these figures cannot conceal what is a clear, sharp upwards
trend in piracy worldwide throughout the period 1993 to 2005.[10]
The chart below shows that the 2005 total was well above the annual
totals from the first half of this period. The International Maritime
Organization puts the number of incidents at less than 50 a year
in the late 1980s, surging to between 50 and 100 a year in the
early 1990s.[11]Incidents
of actual and attempted piracy and armed robbery against ships
Incidences of piracy involving the United Kingdom
10. There were thirty-two incidents of piracy or
armed robbery involving United Kingdom flagged ships between 1993
and 2004, seven of which occurred in 2004 (4%).[12]
According to the Department for Transport, since 1992 there has
been one UK seafarer killed at the hands of pirates.[13]
Other UK seafarers have since suffered injuries at the hands of
pirates. One of the most serious incidents occurred in 1998 on
the Isomeria at Santos in Brazil, when two British seafarers
who had been taken hostage were injured after the pirates opened
fire during a police rescue attempt.[14]
11. Two attacks on ships occurred within United Kingdom
waters between 1993 and 2004.[15]
Both were on ships berthed in Goole in July 2002 and goods were
stolen on both occasions. Since then, we have been told that 'security
at every port facility which serves ships engaged on international
voyages, including Goole, has been considerably strengthened.'[16]
12. Piracy has dire consequences for its victims.
Fifty six per cent of the attacks that happened in 2004 occurred
while the ship was berthed or anchored; 30 crew members were killed,
the highest number since 2000, and a further 71 were injured,
148 taken hostage and 86 kidnapped.[17]
Among incidents where the types of arms used was specified, 48%
involved attacks by pirates with knives and 44% pirates with guns.[18]
This mayhem has continued in 2005 when 152 crew members were injured,
and 652 were taken hostage or kidnapped. Eleven of these remain
missing.[19]
13. The growth in piracy over the past decade
represents an appalling amount of violence against the maritime
community. It is completely unacceptable. We must be clear about
what piracy involves: kidnapping, theft, assault, rape, wounding,
murder. There is nothing remotely 'romantic' about the perpetrators
of these appalling crimes, or their detestable activity. The Government
needs to take the upward trend of violent attacks seriously, and
to take action to reverse it.
3 Available from: http://www.numast.org/docimages/1516.pdf
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4
'Somali "mother ship" directs attacks by pirates',
The Independent, 12 November 2005. See also: 'Eighteen
Britons on cruise ship attacked by pirates', Sunday Express,
6 November 2005; 'Crew had no guns aboard to fight back', Sunday
Express, 6 November 2005; '£55-a-night cruise ship fires
'sonic weapon' to foil pirates', Mail on Sunday, 6 November
2005; 'Pirate Terror of cruise Brits' Sunday Mirror, 6
November 2005; 'Pirate attack coast is a war zone, say crews',
Metro, 7 November 2005; 'Seamen call for UN piracy taskforce',
The Guardian, 7 November 2005; 'Pirates SOS Call', The
Sun, 7 November 2005; BBC News on-line, 5 and 5 November 2005
Back
5
'Somali pirates 'demand $1 m for ship', BBC News on-line,
12 August 2002; 'Somalia's dangerous waters', BBC News on-line,
26 September 2005 Back
6
'High seas piracy hits record level', BBC News on-line,
1 June 2003. Back
7
'Send warships to fight pirates', The Guardian, 23 June
2003 Back
8
Reports on acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships.
Annual Report - 2005 Back
9
IMO, Reports on acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships
Issued monthly, Annual Report 2005 Back
10
Figures are from 1993 as it was the first operational year of
the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre Back
11
IMO, Reports on acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships,
Annual Report 2004 Back
12
See Annex 1 for the 'flag' system. Department for Transport,
The UK Government's strategy for tackling piracy and armed
robbery at sea, 4 March 2005, paragraph 1: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transsec/documents/pdf/dft_transsec_pdf_039633.pdf
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13
Captain John Bashforth, a British National, and his Filipino
Chief Officer, died from gunshot wounds on board the 'MV Baltimar
Zephyr' while sailing 60NM from the coast in Indonesian waters
on 11 December 1992. The Indonesian Government concluded that
the case was one of mutiny, however the MPS investigated and based
on all of the evidence available, decided beyond any reasonable
doubt that the Captain and Chief Officer had been murdered by
boarders intent on theft (piracy). Ev 23 Back
14
Ev 23 Back
15
Department for Transport, The UK Government's strategy for tackling
piracy and armed robbery at sea, 4 March 2005, paragraph 1: http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_transsec/documents/pdf/dft_transsec_pdf_039633.pdf Back
16
Ev 23 Back
17
'Ships' crews at mercy of pirates on deadly seas', The Times,
7 November 2005 Back
18
Piracy and armed robbery against ships, Annual Report 1 January
- 31 December 2005 Back
19
IMO, 2005 Annual Report - Report on acts of piracy and armed
robbery against ships, May 2006, para 6: http://www.imo.org/includes/blastDataOnly.asp/data_id%3D14323/81-colour.pdf
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