Attacks in West Africa pushed piracy up in 2018, the International Maritime Bureau said in its annual report released this week.
There were 201 incidents reported to the agency last year, including six hijackings — all of which happened in the Gulf of Guinea — and 143 ships boarded, up from 180 total in 2017 and 191 in 2016.
“There is an urgent need for increased cooperation and sharing of intelligence between the Gulf of Guinea’s littoral states so that effective action can be taken against pirates, both at sea and on-shore where their operations originate and end,” a statement from the IMB read.
The report said the region saw a considerable spike in violence in the last quarter of the year, with 41 kidnappings in the waters off Nigeria alone.
Meanwhile, piracy in Somalia stayed down and patrols by the Indonesian Marine Police cut the number of incidents there for the third consecutive year.
Worldwide, incidents in the waters off seven countries — Nigeria, the Philippines, Venezuela, Bangladesh, Ghana, Indonesia and Malaysia — account for 69% of attacks.
Nigeria led the way in 2018 with 48. Indonesia had 36.
In West Africa, experts have said there is rampant underreporting by as much as 40%, making getting a handle on the issue more difficult.
Issues related to type and the geopolitical situation further exacerbate the problem, RAND Europe's Giacomo Perso Paoli said.
Ships are hijacked to steal cargo from countries along the Gulf of Guinea, which, unlike Somalia, have functioning governments, Paoli told TradeWinds in December,
He said a "tailored approach" is necessary to tackle piracy in the region.
