20110714
Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) - Piracy attacks on the world's shipping rose by a third in the first half of this year and became increasingly violent, with pirates using machineguns, grenade launchers and other weapons, a maritime watchdog said on Thursday.



Despite the increase of such attacks off Somalia in the Horn of Africa, where piracy is rampant, and other areas, successful hijackings were down, in large part due to massive patrolling by naval fleets, the International Maritime Bureau said.

"In the last six months, Somali pirates attacked more vessels than ever before and they're taking higher risks," IMB director Pottengal Mukundan said in a statement.

"This June, for the first time, pirates fired on ships in rough seas in the Indian Ocean during the monsoon season. In the past, they would have stayed away in such difficult conditions. Masters should remain vigilant."

Attacks on oil and chemical tankers rose by 36 percent and were increasingly violent, involving automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade launchers.

Somali pirates were going out in worse conditions than before, including the monsoon season, the IMB said in its latest Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships report.

Worldwide attacks rose to 266 in the first six months of 2011 compared with 196 in the same period last year.

More than 60 percent were by Somali pirates, the majority of which were in the Arabian Sea, but bigger "mother ships" equipped with more sophisticated equipment have allowed them to stay at sea longer and strike farther than they were able to do in the past.

Pirate gangs make tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, and their escalating attacks in vital shipping lanes have raised fears that insurance costs could rise and vessels could be diverted.

Crude oil tankers sailing in the east and northeast of the Gulf of Aden have been particularly targeted.

Twelve attacks on tankers were reported off Benin, West Africa, since March where none were reported in 2010, with five hijackings.

A total of 50 incidents were recorded for Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore Straits and the South China Seas.