The number of pirate attacks against ships has risen every year for the last four years, IMB said. Ships reported 445 attacks in 2010, up 10 percent from 2009. While 188 crewmembers were taken hostage in 2006, 1,050 were taken in 2009 and 1,181 in 2010.
'These figures for the number of hostages and vessels taken are the highest we have ever seen,' said Capt. Pottengal Mukundan, director of the IMB's Piracy Reporting Center, in a statement Tuesday. 'The continued increase in these numbers is alarming.'
Mukundan also noted that piracy on the high seas has outpaced armed robbery in territorial waters.
'On the high seas off Somalia, heavily armed pirates are overpowering oceangoing fishing or merchant vessels to use as a base for further attacks,' he said. 'They capture the crew and force them to sail to within attacking distance of other unsuspecting vessels.'
The IMB said hijackings off the coast of Somalia accounted for 92 percent of all ship seizures last year with 49 vessels hijacked and 1,016 crewmembers taken hostage. A total of 28 vessels and 638 hostages were still held for ransom by Somali pirates as of Dec. 31, 2010.
The number of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden more than halved last year, with 53 attacks in 2010 down from 117 in 2009. IMB attributes this reduction to the deterrence work of naval forces that have patrolled the area since 2008 and to ships' application of self-protection measures.
Violent attacks against shipping also continued around Nigeria, with incidents concentrated near the port of Lagos. Overall, 13 vessels were boarded, four vessels fired upon and there were two attempted attacks.
In Bangladesh, armed robbery incidents rose for the second successive year. Twenty-one vessels were boarded, mainly by attackers armed with knives. Almost all were anchored in the port of Chittagong, IMB said.
According to IMB, Indonesia saw its highest levels of armed robbery against ships since 2007. Thirty vessels were boarded, nine attacks were thwarted and one vessel was hijacked. Vessels were underway in 15 of the attacks. The South China Seas recorded 31 incidents, more than double the previous year. Twenty-one vessels were boarded, seven attacks attempted, two vessels were fired upon and one was hijacked. The last quarter of 2010 was quiet, with only one reported incident.
