Piracy Research Articles

Hydroacoustic communications in the field of countering underwater robots

The tasks of countering potential threats in the form of maritime terrorism and ensuring the safety of marine waters play an important role for our country. This article proposes technologies for the use of fiber-optic hydrophones for detecting underwater robots.

Polityka Chińskiej Republiki Ludowej wobec Sojuszu Północnoatlantyckiego – uwarunkowania, stan obecny i perspektywy

The policy of the People’s Republic of China towards the North Atlantic Alliance – determinants, actual state and prospects Despite a possible commonality of interests in several spheres (counter‑terrorism, cyber‑security, maritime piracy, confidence‑building and security issues), there are many indications that there will be no fundamental rapprochement between China and the North Atlantic Alliance in the near future. Potential cooperation is blocked mainly by the politics of China, which sees NATO as a tool for the expansion of the United States and its hegemony both in the transatlantic region and beyond. Despite the efforts of several NATO members to initiate dialogue and even cooperation with China in the area of declared common interests (the operation in Afghanistan), these efforts ultimately failed, and since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine the distance between the potential partners has widened even further. In the near term, the state of relations between China and NATO will be mainly a product of the attitude of the United States toward China, and these have entered a phase of fierce rivalry since the Trump era, as well as China’s expressed views on the US’ instrumental use of the North Atlantic Pact to achieve its own goals in security policy.

Hostis humani generis: Pirates and global maritime commerce

Maritime piracy is a pressing global economic and security challenge, posing significant threats to international shipping and global trade. Contemporary piracy is intrinsically linked to matters of governance and economic marginalization fostered by the globalization of the world economy. The first and second order costs of piracy are not inconsequential. It is estimated that they cost the global economic community about $18 billion a year. Indeed, during their peak the Somali pirates clearly demonstrated the vulnerability of global maritime commerce to aggressive and effective pirate attacks. Using data from the International Maritime Bureau, this paper aspires to provide an understanding of important trends in contemporary maritime piracy, shedding light on the core issues that enable their persistent geographic reach and permanency on the global security landscape. The results indicate that maritime piracy is a global problem but is spatially concentrated in five regions. Geography, political instability, a lack of capacity, and economic marginalization creates conditions conducive to piracy, together with factors such as corruption and poor regional cooperation. The overarching problem is one of governance. First, ineffective governance on land is a primary reason for piracy at sea. Second, the international legal structure provided by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is inadequate and does not provide the necessary framework to control piracy in international space or territorial waters. Ultimately, this paper contributes to the academic discourse on maritime piracy by providing a holistic analysis of contemporary trends using Indonesia and Nigeria as case studies thus offering insights into common underlying drivers and dynamics. Finally, international maritime patrols and regional security efforts appear to have reduced the effectiveness of pirates during the past few years, however, these efforts do little to reduce factors of economic marginalization, societal fragmentation, and political instability on land that enable maritime piracy at sea.

Quantitative analysis of maritime piracy at global and regional scales to improve maritime security

The shipping industry has long been hindered by piracy, which threatens the lives of the crews of ships as well as maritime security. Understanding the characteristics of maritime piracy across different scales can help optimize global routes to reduce shipping risks and improve maritime security. In this study, we propose a framework for exploring and comparing the characteristics of maritime piracy at global and regional scales. Data on piracy incidents were collected from Global Integrated Shipping Information System, developed by the International Maritime Organization, and were reconstructed by using text mining and geospatial techniques. The distribution of the key variables and the spatiotemporal distribution of incidents of maritime piracy were investigated, and records of these incidents were divided into six categories. The differences in the characteristics of maritime piracy across categories were then quantitatively examined. The results show that the Gulf of Guinea had the largest number of pirates, and the distance from incidents to the shoreline, the weapons used by pirates, the types and status of the attacked ships, and the area that the incidents frequented varied significantly across regions. The results of this study can be used by the shipping industry to reduce the risk of maritime piracy.

Macron’s African Policy in 2022‒2023. “New Paradigm”?

The article is devoted to the consideration of the explicit and latent goals and objectives of the official visits of French President Emmanuel Macron to the countries of the Gulf of Guinea at the end of July 2022. The author sought to reveal the general and particular in the negotiation process between the large French delegation and the political elites of Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau. It is concluded that the stated goals of Macron’s visit to these African states (issues of security, combating maritime piracy, overcoming the food crisis, etc.) are far from exhausted the agenda of the negotiations. The author comes to the conclusion that the President of France sought, first of all, to convince Paul Biya, Patrice Talon and Umar Sisoko Embalo of the undesirability of military-political cooperation with Russia.

PiracyAnalyzer: Spatial temporal patterns analysis of global piracy incidents

Maritime piracy incidents present significant threats to maritime security, resulting in material damages and jeopardizing the safety of crews. Despite the scope of the issue, existing research has not adequately explored the diverse risks and theoretical implications involved. To fill that gap, this paper aims to develop a comprehensive framework for analyzing global piracy incidents. The framework assesses risk levels and identifies patterns from spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal dimensions, which facilitates the development of informed anti-piracy policy decisions. Firstly, the paper introduces a novel risk assessment mechanism for piracy incidents and constructs a dataset encompassing 3,716 recorded incidents from 2010 to 2021. Secondly, this study has developed a visualization and analysis framework capable of examining piracy incidents through the identification of clusters, outliers, and hot spots. Thirdly, a number of experiments are conducted on the constructed dataset to scrutinize current spatial-temporal patterns of piracy accidents. In experiments, we analyze the current trends in piracy incidents on temporal, spatial, and spatio-temporal dimensions to provide a detailed examination of piracy incidents. The paper contributes new understandings of piracy distribution and patterns, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of anti-piracy measures.

Georeferenced dataset of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea from 2010 to 2021

Piracy has been a global concern and a threat to the safety of people performing maritime trade around the globe. Since ancient times maritime piracy has been a common practice that, unfortunately, has not ended in the current days. A georeferenced dataset providing the position, meteorologic conditions, and a description of the occurrence can provide essential information for analyzing this global phenomenon. The dataset focuses on the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) as an area dominated by corruption and weak supervision capacity by the local authorities. The time interval considered in this paper is between 2010 and 2021. Using this simple dataset, it is possible to analyze attributes such as when the piracy occurred or if the illegal activity involved deaths or kidnapping. The accuracy of the data was guaranteed by cross-referencing data sources, so we have 595 pirate attacks accurately described. This dataset can easily be used for data mining, allowing further analysis of the patterns and trends of pirate attacks in the GoG over time.

Crime, conflict, and commodities: Peruvian piracy and the natural resource curse

ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, Peru has become a global piracy hotspot, eliciting surprise and concern among the international maritime community. Despite increased attention, Peru remains underexamined in maritime piracy research. In this case-study analysis, we brought together two research fields (e.g. maritime piracy and the natural resource curse) to investigate socio-historical factors that accounted for long-term trends in Peruvian piracy. The maritime piracy literature, which largely examines famous sites off the coasts of Africa and southern Asia, identifies several determinants, including state weakness, economic opportunity, and geography. Because Peru is a heavily extraction-dependent state, we also examined mechanisms of the natural resource curse. Considerable overlap in explanatory factors exist. While we found several determinants identified in the maritime piracy literature present in the Peru case, such as state weakness and social conflict, analyses also indicated that mechanisms of the natural resource curse, particularly commodity price volatility and rent seeking, are also positively related to piratical activity. Overall, our findings extend the maritime piracy and natural resource curse literatures and suggest that counter-piracy efforts in Peru critically examine extractive policies for latent effects.

The Use of Private Contracted Armed Security Personnel (PCASP) As A Measure and Solution of Anti-Piracy

The sea route is one of the best options chosen by national and international traders because of lower cost when we compare it to using air freight and the increasing use of merchant ships for international trade, makes people take advantages such as sea piracy and armed robbery and a solution to protect from these things commercial vessels use the services of the Private Contracted Armed Security Personnel (PCASP) and the Private Maritime Security Company (PMSC). The absence of international regulations regarding the use of these services raises pros and cons between coastal states and with special policies in particular regarding the territorial sea of ​​a coastal state. Thus, there is a big question that the use of PCASP and PMSC is in accordance with international law with existing regulations and how Indonesia as a coastal state sees the use of such services as a solution to avoid piracy. The formation of soft laws and agreements is a way out at this time in order to maintain maritime security from the dangers of sea piracy and armed robberies.

Assessment of global shipping risk caused by maritime piracy

Due to the frequent occurrence of piracy incidents, normal trade, and transportation activities have been hindered. This paper uses the Piracy and Armed Robbery dataset in the Global Integrated Shipping Information System to analyze the types and evolutionary characteristics of shipping risk caused by piracy and the piracy behavior patterns in different seas. This study found that there are three regions with high incidence of piracy in the world, and their gathering centers change dynamically over time. Piracy incidents can be divided into four categories based on the quantitative assessment of shipping risk caused by piracy. Shipping risk caused by piracy shows different evolution characteristics in different seas, affected by factors such as the evolution of national political situations and anti-piracy measures. Based on the qualitative assessment of the shipping risk caused by piracy, the piracy corpus reflects the diverse patterns of piracy in different seas. In the process of pirate attacks, the diversity is mainly manifested in violence and selectivity. In the consequences of pirate attacks, the targets that pirates pay attention to vary significantly in different seas. This research will help to strengthen the dynamic monitoring of shipping risk caused by piracy, and further contribute to the research on maritime transport safety.

The Snags of Maritime Piracy Facing the Maritime Trade: Implications for the Blue Economy and Maritime Laws

The Snags of Maritime Piracy Facing the Maritime Trade: Implications for the Blue Economy and Maritime Laws

Lynn Brenda Harris and Valerie Ann Johnson, Editors: Excavating the Histories of Slave-Trade and Pirate Ships: Property, Plunder and Loss

Lynn Brenda Harris and Valerie Ann Johnson, Editors: Excavating the Histories of Slave-Trade and Pirate Ships: Property, Plunder and Loss

Spatial patterns and characteristics of global piracy analyzed using a geographic information system

Pirate attacks are among the most important factors affecting maritime safety in recent years. In this study, big data were analyzed to extract the patterns and characteristics of piracy incidents and to reveal risk control options and recommendations for anti-piracy measures. Global and regional spatial patterns and characteristics were identified with the support of a geographic information system. In total, 3675 maritime piracy incidents from 2010 to 2022 were collected from the Piracy and Armed Robbery module of the Global Integrated Shipping Information System to profile the characteristics of global piracy. To visualize and analyze the features of maritime piracy, we used three geospatial techniques: kernel density estimation (KDE), k-means clustering, and buffer analysis. These geospatial techniques were used to create a KDE map for identifying piracy-prone areas. We subdivided the incidents into several classes and analyzed the features within each class to calculate the incidents that occurred in coastal areas. The following results were obtained from the geospatial analysis. First, the results of the KDE method revealed specific regions that were particularly prone to piracy, namely the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa; the seas around East Africa and the Arabian Sea; the Malacca Strait and parts of Southeast Asia and the Bay of Bengal; and the seas around South America. Second, the distributions of maritime piracy incidents by different temporal criteria, location, and ship type were compared within different classes. In particular, we found that 79.97% of minor incidents, 43.4% of less serious incidents, 50% of serious incidents, and 30.9% of very serious incidents occurred within 40 km of the coastline. The results obtained from the study contributed to an understanding of the spatial patterns of maritime piracy and provided information useful to maritime safety organizations for enhancing shipping safety.

The National Security and Intelligence Nexus in Nigeria: A Historical Analysis

Since the return to democracy in 1999, security has been a major issue in Nigeria in view of the continued ethno-religious conflicts, insurgency & terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, pipe-line vandalization and oil bunkering, sea piracy, and militancy that have continued to occur in the country. The detrimental effects of these national security challenges, has forced government and academics to direct their attention towards finding feasible solutions to Nigeria’s security conundrum. A close examination of existing academic works on National security challenges in the country reveals that very little attention has been paid to the understanding of the role of intelligence as a panacea or as a catalyst that has exacerbated insecurity in the country. In light of this, this paper examines the marriage between intelligence and national security. Focusing also, on the symbiotic relationship between the two and how they both work to reinforce or undermine each other. Methodologically, the paper adopted descriptive and analytic approach. Data for the paper was sourced through the secondary means of data collection. The study reveals that in Nigeria’s quest to establish sound intelligence and national security policies, it has not been able to fully take cognizance of its micro security, macro security and strategic security, and address adequately, the concerns therein. It also found out that, failure to gather intelligence comprehensively by the Nigerian intelligence services (using the full complements of their intelligence gathering paraphernalia) and also, failure to act in a timely fashion, to received intelligence, has sometimes been the reason why some violent altercations in the country have endured. Based on this, the paper recommends among others that for intelligence to be successful in reducing insecurity in Nigeria, the intelligence related services in the country, need to synergize their efforts in the promotion of Nigeria’s national security strategy. Hopefully, this research study could assist various stakeholders in policy making when it comes to the application of intelligence in dealing with national security threats.

Study on the Effects of Maritime Piracy and Sea Robbery on Economic Growth in Nigeria

The study investigated the effects of the level of global and local attacks against ships on economic development in Nigeria. It also examined the effects of volume of cargo pilfered in Nigeria ports as a result of insecurity on the economic growth in Nigeria. The study employed secondary data sourced from from the Nigerian ports authority, the National bureau for statistics (NBS) and the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), levels of pirate attacks against ships in local and global waters, and volume of cargo pilferages in ports. The multiple regression analysis method was used to analyze the dataset obtained using GDP as the dependent variable while global attacks, local attacks and volume of cargo pilfered were used as independent variables. It was found that the effect of maritime piracy and sea robbery on economic growth and development is expressed by the equation: GDPt = 1638944 + 5745.61GLOTAKSt – 34587.7LOTAKSt + 193.25VOCARPt. This implies that economic growth in Nigeria increase with increase in attacks against ships in global waters, it decreases with increase in attacks against ships in Nigerian maritime domain and increases with increase in volume of cargo pilfered from the ports. A unit increase in level of global attacks increases the GDP by 5745.61 units while a unit increase in local attacks against ships trading in Nigerian waters decreases the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 34587.7 units. Similarly, a unit increase in volume of cargo pilfered from the ports increase the GDP by 193.25 units. It concluded that maritime piracy and sea robbery attacks against ships have significant impact on economic growth and development in Nigeria.

The Role of the UN Security Council in the Fight Against Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea

The UN Security Council continues to play a critical role in ensuring the maintenance of international peace and security. Towards this end, the Council has over the years delineated maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea as a threat to international peace and security. Through Resolutions 2018 and 2039, the Council has since 2011 adopted what is largely a militarised approach to dealing with the menace of piracy in the region, similar to its approach in the Gulf of Aden. Even though threat levels are beginning to decline, the Gulf of Guinea is still considered a maritime hotspot. It is within this context that the Council has been moved to reconsider its militarised approaches to include non-kinetic measures. Recognising the critical interface between militarised and non-kinetic measures, the Council has adopted Resolution 2634 in what is considered to be a significant departure from its previous approach. This paper interrogates the rationale for this departure and assesses the extent to which this new approach would support the fight against piracy in the region.

Exploring Maritime Piracy and Somalia National Security

Maritime piracy has been a persistent problem in the waters off the coast of Somalia for over two decades. The lack of effective governance and the absence of a functioning state in Somalia have contributed to the growth of piracy in the region. This study aims to examine the relationship between maritime piracy and national security in Somalia and to explore the contextual factors that contribute to the perpetuation of piracy in the region. This study adopted a qualitative research design and employed a contextual analysis approach to explore an in-depth understanding of the history and impact of piracy in Somalia, and the policies and strategies implemented to combat piracy. The findings of the study reveal that maritime piracy has had a significant impact on national security in Somalia and that the issue is complex and multifaceted. In terms of the factors driving piracy, research has identified a range of causes including poverty, political instability, and the absence of effective governance and law enforcement remain unaddressed. The study also found that maritime piracy in Somalia poses a significant threat to national security and has broader implications for regional stability and international peace and security. The study recommends the need for a comprehensive and coordinated approach to address the root causes of piracy in Somalia, including the need for effective governance, the development of the maritime sector, and the strengthening of the rule of law.

Poverty, Youth Unemployment, Maritime Piracy, and Sea Robbery in Nigeria between 1995 and 2013: A Relationship Assessment

The study investigated the relationships between the poverty level in Nigeria and levels of global and local pirate attacks against ships on one hand; and between the unemployment rate in Nigeria and the level of local and global attack against ships, as well as the volume of cargo pilfered from Nigerian ports, on the other hand. The study employed secondary data sourced from the Nigerian Ports Authority, the National Bureau for Statistics (NBS), and the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) on the poverty rate, unemployment rate, levels of pirate attacks against ships in local and global waters, and volume of cargo pilferages in ports. The multiple regression analysis method was used to analyze the dataset obtained, using poverty rate and unemployment rate as the dependent variables in each case. It was found that poverty among dwellers is a component driver of maritime piracy and sea robbery against ships trading in Nigeria, since there is a significant relationship between the level of maritime insecurity and the rate of poverty in Nigeria. The study also found that there is a significant relationship between the level of maritime piracy/sea robbery and the unemployment rate in Nigeria. Highlights Maritime insecurity in Nigeria waterways Pirate attacks against ships trading in Nigeria waters is linked to unrest in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria Maritime piracy in Nigeria waters is correlated with Poverty, unemployment, economic hardship in Nigeria Significant relationship exist between maritime insecurity and poverty rate in Nigeria

Unraveling the Depths: Exploring Maritime Terrorism through International and National Legal Perspectives

Acts of terror are extraordinary crimes with very complicated impacts, where the perpetrators commit acts of violence and threaten targets that are determined randomly based on certain categories. The various terrorist incidents that have occurred in Indonesia do not rule out the possibility of similar incidents being even more horrific and resulting in more victims in the future. Indonesia as an archipelagic country views maritime security as an important aspect of maritime domain governance. The Sulu-Sulawesi sea area is a vulnerable route throughout Asia, it is considered that crimes committed in the Sulu Sea are extreme crimes called maritime terrorism which can threaten the sovereignty of a country. Terrorism has become an increasingly serious concern in Indonesia since the Bali Bombing and other terrorist tragedies. From these problems, the formulation of the problems that must be answered in this study is (1) What are the legal remedies for perpetrators of maritime terrorism in the perspective of international law, 2) How are efforts to enforce violations of state sovereignty in the national maritime area in maintaining national defense. This study uses the normative legal research to analyze from a legal perspective regarding maritime terrorism by terrorists that endanger state sovereignty, and the national sea in maintaining national defense.

Somali Anti-Piracy Campaign, 2008-2012

Sea piracy, a centuries old practice, has been portrayed as a phenomenon that rewards its perpetrators while decaying the states where it thrives. Fueled by its unsustainable criminal economies that erode and weaken the fibre of the state, the deterioration has over the centuries and millennia prompted states to inconclusively counter the menace. This fight against piracy has been a teeter-totter of sorts whose common thread has been the rise, decline and recurrence of piracy throughout history. Yet, despite this incongruous reality, states have continued to roll out strategies with hopes of ending piratical vagaries and reforming its attendant criminal economies. While anti-piracy interventions of yore abound, their descriptions have not attracted deserving scholarly scrutiny, an aberration that can be redeemed by contextualizing initiatives taken to curb the fabled Somali piracy. This article interrogates the international, regional and national Somali anti-piracy strategies whose deficiencies shed light on why piracy remains a recurring scourge. Capitalizing on Somalia’s instability and location, the article identifies the intricacies of the selfish considerations that underlie leading world powers and regional agencies ‘humanitarian’ decision to join the Somali anti-piracy campaign.