Pirates targeting ships diverted from Red Sea UN shipping chief warns

The head of the UN organisation for maritime issues has warned shipping companies to be on high alert for piracy off the African coast after ship seizures in recent months raised concerns that diversions away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal would prompt an increase in hijackings.

Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, said his organisation had spoken to the authorities in Somalia, in east Africa, and countries around the Gulf of Guinea on the western side of the continent. They had discussed efforts to ensure piracy did not again become a grave problem, Financial Times reports.

Many shipping companies have since December diverted sailings away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal to routes to avoid attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. This has sent vessels into waters in the Indian Ocean and off West Africa that generally attract less traffic.

Asked about recent piracy incidents, Dominguez noted that ships still took security precautions off African coasts and urged companies to return to the stringent security levels of the previous piracy crisis. “They need to be more in line with how they were back in 2008 to 2012 off Somalia,” he said.

The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations office last month warned mariners of the existence of two possible “pirate action groups” operating in the Indian Ocean.

One vessel hijacked in December remains off Somalia, while pirates briefly seized another bulk carrier the following month before it was freed by the Indian navy. In west Africa, some of a tanker’s crew were kidnapped in January off Equatorial Guinea by pirates who briefly took control of the ship.

“We’re having conversations to create awareness with the member states surrounding the Gulf of Guinea just to be aware that with the increased traffic in the region we should avoid new escalation or increased incidents of piracy,” Dominguez said.

Pirates hijacked scores of commercial vessels in waters off Somalia between 2008 and 2012, while a wave of piracy that peaked about 2018 led to a rise in kidnappings and robberies against ships off west Africa. Both issues were largely resolved by the adoption of on-board security measures, including the employment of armed guards. Some coastal states also stepped up anti-piracy action.

Dominguez, a Panamanian national who took office on January 1, said the IMO had urged coastal states to maintain their protections against piracy.

“It’s something always just to be aware of, just in case it could increase in the future,” he said.

Dominguez was speaking after the most damaging attack yet by the Houthis on a commercial ship, a missile attack on February 19 on a dry bulk carrier whose crew were forced to abandon ship.

Roy Khoury, chief executive of Blue Fleet Group, the ship’s Beirut-based owner, said on Wednesday that the vessel was listing and in danger of sinking. However, the group was working with a salvage company to have the ship towed to Djibouti.

Dominguez welcomed the establishment, announced on February 19, of Operation Aspides, a new unit of the EU’s EUNavfor naval task force to protect commercial shipping off Yemen. A US-led operation, Operation Prosperity Guardian, is also in the area, while India’s navy has deployed multiple ships to the region.

“Actions to protect the safety of the seafarers and security of the vessels are welcome,” Dominguez said, while adding that such measures were not “long-term solutions”.

He also said his organisation would engage with its member states in the hope they would be able to help “de-escalate” the situation in Yemen. “We don’t have the capability to provide security ourselves,” Dominguez said of the IMO. “We’re reliant on support from member states.”

Dominguez also expressed admiration for how the shipping industry had coped with the security crisis around the Red Sea. “Shipping continues to be resilient,” he said. “We have proven that through our history.”