The scale of modern piracy is mind-boggling, and this is just the tip of the iceberg - many attacks go unreported.
In 2008, piracy received significant attention. The scale of modern piracy is mind-boggling, and this is just the tip of the iceberg - many of the attacks by the pirates of the Third Millennium have gone unreported.
According to the statistics of the International Bureau of Shipping and Navigation \ International Maritime Bureau, in 2008 in the world 49 ships were seized by pirates (18 - in 2007), another 46 ships were fired upon. Overall, pirates used firearms 139 times (72 a year earlier). 889 crew members were taken hostage, 32 were wounded, 11 were killed, 29 were missing. In total, in 2008, there were 293 attempts to attack pirates (in 2007 - 263).
Most of the increase in pirate activity came from pirates operating in the waters Somalia and the Gulf of Aden- 111 incidents on their account. For the first time in the history of shipping, pirates seized a large tanker and a ship loaded with tanks. Somali pirates attacked all types of ships, including those moving at high speed. In addition, the pirates were much better trained and equipped than in previous years. The second most dangerous place is nigeria coast(40 incidents), in addition, about 100 more attacks by Nigerian pirates have not been officially confirmed. Among the traditionally dangerous places are also the waters adjacent to Bangladesh and Tanzania, but here pirates attack only anchored ships. At the same time, pirate activity decreased in waters of Indonesia(there were 28 incidents in 2008, against 121 in 2003) and in Strait of Malacca(two versus seven incidents in 2007).
However, these statistics only take into account attacks officially reported by shipowners. Many researchers note that de facto, no more than 10-20% of incidents involving pirates fall into such reports. The reason is that ship and cargo owners often prefer to negotiate directly with pirates and pay them compensation. This is due to the following reasons: firstly, they have no confidence that the authorities will be able to more effectively solve this problem (given that the operating cost of sailing one ship with cargo is $ 10,000 or more, it is faster and cheaper to negotiate with pirates); secondly, the message about the seizure of the ship by pirates automatically leads to an increase in the cost of insurance: according to estimates of the consulting firm BGN Risk, the Somali pirates increased the cost of insurance for the ship from $ 500 in 2007 to $ 20 thousand in 2008. In addition, insurers and contractors may require ships to be equipped with more modern engines, passive defense systems, etc.; third, the affected shipowner acquires a negative image and clients are afraid to do business with it.
Most of the sources that analyze the algorithms of modern piracy give the following classification of sea robbers of the 21st century. The first group consists of common criminalsthat perform primitive operations, for example, steal something. The second category includes members of organized criminal communitieswho carry out complex operations and intelligently dispose of the kidnapped (traditionally it is believed that this kind of pirates are especially numerous in Southeast Asia, some of them are part of the Chinese "triads"). The third group consists of paramilitary representatives, sometimes having some kind of official status: often these are armed formations led by field commanders who need constant income to maintain their own power and control over any territory - these are the structures that make up the majority of pirates in Somalia and Indonesia. Sometimes they even mimic, using patrol boats that actually belong to or resemble ships of the customs services or the navy of the respective states.
Most attacks take place at night, when the minimum number of sailors is on watch and the speed of the ships is slower than usual. The types of attacks also differ.
In the first casepirates simply board the ship, empty the ship's safe and the crew's wallets, and then hide. The usual catch from such an operation is approximately $ 20,000.
Second type of attackinvolves the theft of not only money, but also cargo. In some cases, pirates simply load goods onto their ships; sometimes this operation requires mooring in a pirate harbor; sometimes a hijacked vessel is driven into a port where pirates have appropriate connections, where the cargo is sold to local buyers. The profitability of such operations is much higher, the cost of goods sold at dumping prices can reach several hundred thousand dollars.
In the third casepirates detain a ship with cargo, take its crew and passengers hostage, after which they demand ransom from the shipowner. The size of the ransom also varies and has not been disclosed, but there have been reports that it could reach several million dollars.
Fourth methodwas widespread in the 1990s, but as a result of the tightening of international rules for registering ships, no such stories have been reported in recent years. The essence of the method is as follows: pirates seize a ship, after which they destroy its crew, forge the relevant documents and register the ship again (until the end of the 1990s, a temporary registration allowing the ship to sail on the Panamanian or Honduran flag could be obtained without any problems at any consulate in Panama and Honduras). Then the ship is either sold or receives an order for the transportation of some valuable cargo, after which it disappears without a trace.
In the 1960s and 1970s, pirate attacks on coastal cities and towns in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia were noted. In some cases, pirates killed or took hostage local police officers and even military units stationed in the city.
In addition, pirates are actively involved in the transportation of contraband, drugs, weapons, slaves and actively cooperate with criminal communities. It is theoretically possible to assume that in the near future pirates and criminal structures will acquire not only surface but also submarine forces. Attempts to do this have already been recorded. Colombian drug traffickers in the late 1990s tried to build a submarine - the secret services accidentally discovered the hangar where the submarine was being built. In the early 1990s, the US special services thwarted a deal to sell Soviet submarines - "babies" to Latin American criminal gangs.
There are a number of cases when terrorists also used pirate methods: for example, the Palestine Liberation Front in 1985 seized the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Philippine organization Abu Sayaf (by the way, its founder Abubakar Janialani, like Bin Laden, fought with Soviet troops in Afghanistan) in 2004 killed more than 100 passengers on a hijacked ferry. In general, Abu Sayaf has made piracy one of the main sources of replenishing its budget.
It is extremely difficult to estimate the real losses of the world economy as a result of the actions of the pirates. In 2006, the World Bank \ World Bank came to the conclusion that the annual damage from the activities of pirates is $ 10-20 billion.
