The beginning of the end of the Somali piracy

Last August I was invited to join to the Observatory of the Black, Gulf and Mediterranean Seas (OBGMS). In particular, I am a member of the Scientific Council and of the Geostrategic Maritime Task Force.

The Geostrategic Maritime Review (GMR) is the Observatory’s flagship bi-annual publication, coming out in Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter.

I have written an article for the number GMR 3 Fall/Winter 2014 edition. The paper has been conducted on the basis of an existing body of research which led to a doctoral thesis, published by Spain’s Ministry of Defence in December 2012, and to an article published in June 2013 in which Somali piracy between 2005 and 2011 is analysed. We aim to update existing knowledge about the attacks perpetrated in 2012 and 2013, the last complete year in which we have all the available data. I will also analyse the evolution of the situation and the modus operandi of the pirates. 

From 2008 to 2010, Somali pirates hijacked around 50 ships per year on average. Since then, a downward trend has been observed, with the seizure of 16 vessels in 2012 and only two in 2013. Despite managing over 300 attacks in 2011, in 2012, the numbers fell to 105, and in 2013 to 45. What has happened and why? 

The article can be downloaded here and can be read in pages 73-92.

Fernando Ibáñez.