Somali Piracy Decline

The threat of piracy on the ocean freight shipping industry has been profound over the past decade. The biggest piracy threat came from the shores of Somalia where pirates would intercept ocean vessels. During the years, Somali pirates would threaten the lives of the crew on the ship. As a result of their terror, significant time was lost for freight shipping, as well as billions of dollars of economic loss. This threat of piracy certainly had an impact of ocean freight rates a few years ago.

Thankfully, the trends of piracy seem to be going downward for the time being. According to the International Maritime Bureau, there are significantly less pirates plaguing ships today than two years ago. In 2011, there were 439 pirate attacks; Somali pirates accounted for 237 attacks. In 2013, there were 264 pirate attacks; Somali Pirates only accounted for 15 attacks. This is includes zero successful Somali Pirate attacks in 2013. The numbers clearly show that Somali Pirates are less of a threat today than in the past. This is great news for all of those who transport containers.

The reasons for the decline in Somali Pirate attacks are due to improved international safety efforts with more security on the ships and more cooperation from navies. In addition, there has been great cooperation from freight forwarders, as well as carriers like CMA, CGM, MSC and Maersk who joined forces to fight piracy. It should be noted that there is still piracy out there, and it could still threaten some shipments in the ocean. In 2014, Somali Pirates successfully hijacked their first ship since 2012.