Access the latest Maritime Security Threat Advisory for the week commencing 9th January 2023.

👉 Data suggests that globally recorded maritime security incidents are at their lowest levels in 40 years.

Incidents of offshore piracy across both the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea regions have shown considerable declines from previously high rates. The former showing a substantial decline to a near total absence of incidents across a protracted timeframe and the later showing a decline in incident volumes with sporadic evidence of a persistent threat within key areas.

Despite the decline in incidents of piracy, maritime crime has persisted globally with high volumes of incidents within Southeast Asian waters and many littoral regions. Beyond low level maritime crime, 2022 saw a continuation of the theme of rising geopolitical instability with threats to global shipping including the continued targeting of Israeli owned vessels by Iran, the extension of war risk into the maritime domain resulting from the ongoing war in Yemen and likewise within the Black Sea.

At the outset of 2023 the Indian Ocean region sees the removal of the HRA which had been in place since 2010, reflecting the considerable decline in traditional maritime security threats within that region. Whilst piracy remains at historically low levels, it is important to note that this is set against the backdrop of a worsening macro-economic headwind that is highly likely to accentuate many of the conditions which are responsible for the prevalence of piracy.

Within key regions of both the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Guinea, poverty, considerable on shore insecurity, weak governance and the prevalence of considerable volumes of established criminal enterprise are all conditions which could precipitate a return to piracy.

Within the last reporting period, there has been a rise in renewed commitments to maritime security infrastructure programs notably within the Indian Ocean.

Globally there continues to be a push towards the development of maritime security legislation that
makes provision for the prosecution of acts of piracy out with state waters. Incident volumes continue the reporting trend noted towards the end of 2022 with Bolivia Coast Ivory two incidents reported with the Singapore Strait.