How many pirates are there today

With the recent news about the pirate capture off Somalia, it may appear to some that modern pirates are isolated to this geographic area. While the political upheaval in Somalia does provide an ideal, lawless hideout for pirates, the fact is pirates are often found in many places around the globe. Some areas most frequented by pirates include the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the waters of Indonesia and Singapore. Financial loss. Unfortunately, most carriers decide not to report piracy incidents due to the financial burden.

Ties to government and organized crime. Many modern pirates have ties to the government and organized crime , such as the pirates in Somalia and the Far East, with some pirates in the South China Sea reportedly working under the protection of the Chinese government. Other pirates take advantage of a lack of government involvement, such as the pirates near Brazil, where there is no Coast Guard or its equivalent.

Anchored ships vs. Recent trends show that kidnapping the crew in order to get ransom money is on the rise, as pirates cannot only profit from the ransom but stolen goods as well. High ransom. Number of actual and attempted piracy attacks in Indonesia Actual and attempted piracy attacks worldwide by country This feature is limited to our corporate solutions.

Please contact us to get started with full access to dossiers, forecasts, studies and international data. Skip to main content Try our corporate solution for free! Single Accounts Corporate Solutions Universities. In , there was an increase of pirate attacks against ships worldwide compared with the previous year. While ships were attacked by pirates in , the number of ships attacked grew to in Contemporary maritime piracy reached its peak level in , with around reported incidents.

The regions most likely to come under threat from pirate attacks include Indonesia, the Malaysia, and Nigeria. Here, pirates are attracted by the abundance of natural resources in the countries themselves or in adjacent areas. Strategic passages for oil transport such as Bab-el-Mandeb, near Somalia, or the Strait of Malacca off the Indonesian coast have become notorious targets for maritime crime. In , oil tankers shipped With oil prices hovering around 70 U.

In , Venezuela was thrust into the limelight: Here, the number of incidents rose from five to 12 between and It is often the crew and the pirates themselves who pay most dearly for maritime crime. In Somali waters, at least crew members were held hostage in , and over pirates were killed - mostly by naval forces such as armed guards, who are increasingly seen to be of central importance to the protection of merchant ships. Loading statistic Show source. Download for free You need to log in to download this statistic Register for free Already a member?

Log in. Show detailed source information? Register for free Already a member? The life and times of a pirate. Who became a pirate and what was life like for them?

Step into the world of pirates in the classic age of piracy. Letters of marque. A letter of marque was a commission authorising privately owned ships known as privateers to capture enemy merchant ships. The real pirates of the Caribbean.

While Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean films are entirely fictional, there is no doubting that the Caribbean was the centre of piracy in the Golden Age of Piracy. Infamous pirates. For over years, we have thrilled to the antics of fictional and fictionalised pirates from Long John Silver to Jack Sparrow.

Bringing pirates to justice. Justice, like life, was short, brutal and spectacular for pirates. Visit us. National Maritime Museum. Plan your visit. Shop our selection of pirate-themed books The image of the pirate never fails to capture the imagination.

Browse our range of publications to inform and entertain Shop. The cut-throat sea robbers of history who plundered richly laden merchant ships are legendary Buy Now. Pirate Gran by Geraldine Durrant. Pirating isn't the life for everyone, but Gran says it's a career more girls should think about. Long hours, of course, but you get to travel