Piracy on the High Seas

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Piracy on the High Seas
Nov. 26, 2003

We've noticed several navies in the Pacific have been unusually active as of late, on exercises and joint patrols, but it's not due to a new international crisis. Rather, the return of an old scourge with murderous vengeance, piracy on the high seas.

We usually think of piracy as part of a romantic age of sail; sudden clashes at sea, battles for treasure on a distant main, along the old sea routes of Africa and Asia. But piracy, which never really vanished, is now back, more dangerous than ever, along many of the same trade routes. High speed boarding parties are attacking ships carrying valuable cargos, including consumers goods and even fuel. It's so dangerous, Japan warns piracy could soon have, "...a major impact on the social stability and economic prosperity of the Pacific region."

We've checked with the International Maritime Bureau based in Malaysia which tracks attacks at sea. Here are the latest warnings. In just three years, more than a thousand acts of piracy have been reported. So far this year, around 350 ships and large boats have been attacked. The largest number ever recorded, and up 27 percent over the same period last year. The most dangerous areas; southeast Asia and the Indian ocean; 140 attacks. Indonesian waters alone saw 64 boardings. The east and west coasts of Africa are also a danger zone. Ships are now warned to stay at least 150 kilometres off Somalia where warlords have taken to piracy. Cost estimates range up to 16 billion dollars in cargo stolen over a decade.

But most alarming is a sharp rise in deadly violence. Eighty crew members and passengers have been killed on ships over the past 18 months. Pirates are more numerous and becoming far more ruthless. Naval forces from Japan to Malaysia have tried to beat back piracy, but pirates blend easy into local fishing populations.

There's increasing fear that terrorist groups have taken up piracy causing the United States to dedicate one class of patrol boats to secure shipping off the gulf and near Malaysia. The greatest concern is the Strait of Malacca by Malaysia. There's fear attacks on chemical or gas carriers might close waters through which a staggering one-third of all world trade passes, including 80 percent of Japan's crude oil. Finally, at least in part, concern over security of sea lanes is helping spawn some new naval relationships. Most unexpected, this month the U.S. war ship paid a courtesy visit to Vietnam, the first to visit Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, since the American Navy scrambled to pull off that chaotic evacuation at the end of the Vietnam war nearly 30 years ago. And that's Intelligence File for The National. I'm Brian Stewart.

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