Slayings in Pirate Attacks Rise in 2004 Despite a Decline in Incidents

Pirate attacks on ships worldwide fell 26% last year from the year before as incidents in Bangladesh and Indonesia dropped, the International Maritime Bureau said.

But crew deaths rose by 42%.

Attacks totaled 325 last year, down from 445 in 2003, the IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur said in an annual report Sunday. Incidents in Bangladesh plunged 70% to 17.

Thirty people were killed worldwide, compared with 21 in 2003, and 86 people were kidnapped.

“Although the decline in the number of attacks is to be welcomed, there is concern that in some key hot spots the situation has deteriorated,” Pottengal Mukunan, IMB’s director, said in the report.

Indonesia, whose oil-rich Aceh province has been subject to a separatist rebellion, accounted for more than a quarter of the attacks with 93 incidents, down 23% from 2003. The Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Indonesia, came in second with 37 incidents, the center said.

Piracy off northern Indonesia has been halted since the Dec. 26 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. “This is probably because some of the pirates may have died during the tsunami. It is certainly the case that many would have lost equipment such as boats and weapons,” the IMB said.

The center said it still considered the area unsafe and that it would continue to monitor the situation.

Nigeria ranked third in worldwide piracy with 28 attacks last year, down from 39 in 2003. Attacks off Lagos, the country’s capital, accounted for the highest number reported in a single port, the bureau said.

Just over a quarter of the attacks targeted tankers shipping oil, gas and chemicals.

Hijackers in February shot dead four crew members on an oil tanker off Indonesia’s Aceh province after its owner failed to pay ransom. The other nine escaped, the bureau said.

Twenty-two percent of the attacks were aimed at vessels carrying dry bulk commodities such as iron ore, coal and grain. Container ships were involved in about 15% of the incidents, the center said.

Singaporean-operated ships were involved in 41 attacks, making them the most targeted, followed by Greek vessels with 35, the IMB said. Freighters flying the Panamanian flag were involved in about a fifth of the incidents, with 64 attacks. Liberian- and Singaporean-flagged vessels both came second, involved in 31 incidents each.

Eleven ships were hijacked last year, eight less than a year ago, the bureau said. Thailand’s naval police arrested four men in March and accused them of changing the names of stolen vessels after the recovery of a hijacked barge containing about $1.8 million worth of palm oil.

Pirate attacks reached an annual record of 469 in 2000. The IMB, part of the International Chamber of Commerce, was set up 13 years ago and financed with donations by shipowners and insurers.