Modern Piracy

The centre of modern-day piracy is the South China Sea, scene of more than a third of last year's 266 reported raids. The Malacca Straits between Malaysia and Sumatra, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, is also a favoured haunt. Waters around failing states are particularly dangerous. The Indian Ocean off Somalia is home to a special brand of piracy, in which ships are hijacked and crews are kidnapped and ransomed.

Modern pirates use intelligence (often tip-offs from corrupt port officials), satellite phones and tracking technology to plan attacks on valuable cargo, but one tool of modern pirates remains the same: the rope and grappling hook. Storming a ship in motion requires special forces-style skills and many in the shipping industry believe some of the more sophisticated modern pirates are rogue military units. A relative absence of risk also is behind the rise in piracy, according to Newton.

Another reason why piracy is so risk-free is that many victims fail to report the crime. Shipping companies would rather bear the loss of $20,000 stolen from a safe than report it to their insurers and face a hike in premiums. Insurance premiums rose by 300% for vessels entering Yemeni waters after a suicide boat rammed into Limburg, a French oil tanker, in October 2002.

Ships sometimes do not report piracy because they fear that no country will bother to investigate crimes in international waters. With under-reporting, the Department of Transport estimates the actual level of pirate attacks may be as much as 25% above current figures. And even this may be an underestimate: a survey by the Nippon Foundation showed that Japanese vessels were caught in 10 times as many incidents of piracy as had been officially recorded.