Piracy at Sea
Vijay Sakhuja
Maritime Security Analyst
The annual report on piracy at sea of the International Chamber of Commerce notes that there were 335 attacks on ships in 2001. Pirates killed 21 crewmembers/passengers, and 210 seafarers were taken hostage during the attacks. A new trend of ‘kidnap and ransom’ piracy was also observed in the Malacca Straits (waters around
Aceh, Indonesia
), a phenomena earlier restricted to Somali waters. During 2000, piracy attacks had shown an alarming rise with armed robbery in the waters around
Indonesia
,
Bangladesh
, the
Malacca
Straits
,
India
,
Ecuador
and the
Red Sea
. Similar trends continued during 2001 with
Indonesia
,
India
and
Bangladesh
occupying the top three positions with 91, 27 and 25 attacks respectively. The center of piracy appears to have shifted now to the Bay of Bengal-Malacca Straits.
The very thought of piracy brings to mind cutlass wielding, one-eyed weather beaten figure of a sailor, ready to board and plunder the ship. It leant romance to Captain Kidd, Morgan and Black Beard. As a matter of fact, piracy has been prevalent since the first ships were launched. It is said that the
Spanish Royal Court had to wait for the return of the pirates before it allowed the salaries of their officers to be drawn.
Till the 1980s, piracy was considered to be part of history, restricted to the silver screen, but in the 1990s, there has been a resurgence in maritime piracy. Clearly, various political, economic and military reasons are responsible for this rise of crime in the high seas. The end of the Cold War resulted in a shrinking Soviet Navy, and the limited US naval presence in these waters may also have contributed to encouraging piracy. Likewise, the handover of
Hong Kong
to the People’s Republic of
China
led to exit of the British Royal Navy. Similarly, the recent South East Asian economic crisis has eroded defence budgets and scaled down naval activity like patrolling by regional navies, leading to increased piracy in recent times.
The most horrifying aspect of maritime piracy is its associated violence. There is a typical pattern that has emerged over the years, with the crew being traumatized, hurt, injured, left adrift or even killed. Invariably the ship’s crew are taken as hostage, assaulted or even killed and their belongings’ stolen. Often the entire ship and its cargo are sold illegally. Piracy is an international crime and affects not only the passengers, crew and ship owners, but it also threatens the world economy. Since over eighty percent of world trade is carried by ships, the threat from piracy is serious. Shipping companies privately confess to attacks on their vessels but prefer not to report them. Victims of attacks are so traumatized that they often do not return to sea again. Unfortunately, ship owners fail to appreciate this fact and discourage their crew-members from reporting attacks.
Surprisingly warships have also not escaped. For instance, the Russian Federation Navy Ship Nikolai Vilkor, a 3,400 ton Alligator class amphibious vessel was pursued by pirates though it focused its searchlights on its guns to show that it was a dangerous target, and even fired warning shots to deter the doughty pirates. However, the warship was still followed for about an hour. In response, the Russian Federation Navy instituted regular warship patrols in the
East China Sea
to counter this problem in future. This sends out a strong signal to regional navies that they should cooperate to collectively counter piracy.
Hijacking and piracy at sea belong to the terrorism phenomena. It threatens maritime enterprise and disturbs law and order at sea. Even though terrorism and piracy manifest themselves in different forms, their actors engage in it for both political objectives and profits. A hijacking makes sensational news and attracts media attention but piracy remains a non-issue for much of the world. Contemporary piracy trends indicate that naval/coast guard patrols are most effective to deter piracy. Greater regional politico-maritime cooperation is the only means to suppress the problem. In addition, maritime courts, diplomatic dialogue and understanding among navies and coast guards will also be positive steps in this direction.
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