Piracy off the coast of Somalia Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel, and Indian Ocean, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding places and has a long troubled history with different perspectives from different communities. I ...

has been a threat to

international shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been exte ...

since the beginning of the

Somali Civil War The Somali Civil War (; ) is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing civil war that is taking place in Somalia. It grew out of resistance to the military junta which was led by Siad Barre during the 1980s. From 1988 to 1990, the Somali Armed ...

in the early 1990s. Since 2005, many international organizations have expressed concern over the rise in acts of

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

. Piracy impeded the delivery of shipments and increased shipping expenses, costing an estimated $6.6-$6.9 billion a year in global trade according to Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP). According to the

German Institute for Economic Research The German Institute for Economic Research (), or, more commonly DIWBerlin, is a economic research institute in Germany, involved in economic research and policy advice. According to Repec, it is among the top-10 percent of non-profit economic ...

(DIW), a veritable industry of profiteers also arose around the piracy.

Insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

companies significantly increased their profits from the pirate attacks as insurance companies hiked premium rates in response.

Combined Task Force 150 Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force working under the 34-nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces and is based in Bahrain established to monitor, board, inspect, and stop suspect shipping to purs ...

, a multinational coalition task force, took on the role of fighting the piracy by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) within the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

and Socotra Passage. According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirate attacks had by October 2012 dropped to a six-year low, with only one ship attacked in the third quarter compared to thirty-six during the same period in 2011. By December 2013, the US

Office of Naval Intelligence The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serv ...

reported that only 9 vessels had been attacked during the year by pirates, with zero successful hijackings.

Control Risks Control Risks is a global risk and strategic consulting firm that specializes in political, security and integrity risk assessments. History Control Risks was formed in 1975, as a professional adviser to the insurance industry. A subsidiary of ...

attributed this 90% decline in pirate activity from the corresponding period in 2012 to the adoption of better management practices by vessel owners and crews, armed private security on board ships, a significant naval presence, and the development of onshore security forces.

List of ships captured or attacked off the Somali coast

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2017

2018

2024

References

External links

Live Piracy Map
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Interactive piracy map 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Ships Attacked By Somali Pirates

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

Piracy in Somalia

Somali pirates Horn of Africa * Somali Peninsula, a region of East Africa, also known as "The Horn of Africa" * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Greater Somalia ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somali culture ...

Ships attacked by Somali pirates Ships attacked and captured by pirates Piracy lists