In an narrative that follows Dryad’s maritime crime figures for Q3 ( July to September) of 2015, Dryad Maritime reports to its clients, assessing the situation across main areas of maritime interest.
Though with regard to Southeast Asia, the maritime company says there is a ‘stark rise’ in piracy where gangs operate with ‘apparent impunity’, when it comes to High Risk Area (HRA)–Gulf of Aden and India Ocean, the picture it paints does not appear to be so gloomy. It says ‘ the will of any potential pirate to take to sea has been greatly diminished’ because of the continued ‘presence of anti-piracy coalition warships and air assets’.
Q3 has been dominated by the seasonal Southwest Monsoon, Dryad Maritime says. Sea conditions in the Arabian Sea and the northern Indian Ocean have, for the majority of the last three months, been outside the operating parameters for pirate skiffs. There have been no incidents of piracy of large commercial vessels across the HRA in Q3 and the last confirmed vessel to be fired upon by suspected Somali pirates in the HRA was in February 2014. Four vessels have reported robberies while at anchor or alongside in ports in Africa and India, with one more vessel being boarded. Reports of suspicious vessels in the Southern Red Sea/BaM and in the Gulf of Oman have also reduced, with only three advisories being issued by UKMTO in the quarter, all of which Dryad assessed as interaction with local traffic and not Somali pirates.
In what seems like a glimpse back in history, Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing off Somalia has been highlighted in the last quarter. The ongoing detention of the Iranian fishing dhow, Seraj, off Ceel Hur remains a concern. However, the failure of those holding the vessel to use it as a mothership to attack commercial shipping offshore suggests that the detention is more related to a legal dispute over fishing, however unconventional the judicial process may be, rather than an attempt to acquire logistic platforms and exact ransoms. It also highlights how the local population can maintain the security of the waters without an official coastguard and without being labelled pirates by the wider maritime community.
During the coming inter-monsoonal period (Oct- Dec) in the next quarter, Dryad assesses there will be no significant return to Somali piracy. Without the funds or equipment, of which they are probably starved, coupled with the continued presence of anti-piracy coalition warships and air assets, the will of any potential pirate to take to sea has been greatly diminished.