Tag: Indian Ocean

Europe is preparing to enhance its naval presence in the north west Indian Ocean "to uphold freedom of navigation" in the world's trade jugular.

Diaplous Group has issued a white paper to inform about the complex environment of maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and to assess whether the High-Risk Area (HRA) is worth it to be maintained or abolished.

During the 2021 SAFETY4SEA Virtual Forum, Panel 4 discussed about maritime piracy in the era of COVID-19.

Regional conflict, heightened military activity, and increased political tensions pose threats to merchant vessels operating in the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Western Indian Ocean.

Major shipping groups, including BIMCO, ICS, INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO, and OCIMF, announced an upcoming reduction of geographic boundaries of the ‘High Risk Area’ for piracy in the Indian Ocean, which will apply from 1 September 2021, as a consequence of a continued downward trend in Somali piracy. 

The Joint War Committee has recently reviewed the Listed Areas, and has agreed the following changes.

British security intelligence firm Dryad Global issued its annual report for 2020, providing an overview of piracy trends worldwide. The report reveals that robberies are the most prevalent incident type in West Africa, but kidnapping incidents remain unacceptably high in Gulf of Guinea. Meanwhile, incidents in Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia remain low. 

It is known that the Gulf of Guinea remains a hotspot for piracy incidents, as the latest IMB Piracy Annual Report revealed. To remind, 35 crew were kidnapped from their vessels in 2020, with the GoG accounting for over than 95% of crew kidnap numbers. Amid this crew kidnapping crisis that shipping industry is dealing with, speakers at the 2021 SAFETY4SEA Talk on security, discussed about key anti-piracy measures and the security challenges for the operators.

The US MARAD issued an advisory on December 14 concerning vessels operating in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, warning that Yemen remains a risk for commercial vessels.

India has joined the Djibouti Code of Conduct/ Jeddah Amendment, as Observer, with the aim to cooperate with other states on reducing maritime piracy in the Indian Ocean region.