Somali piracy: Years of terror and ransoms

In April 2005, a Hong Kong LPG tanker called MV Feisty Gas was sailing across the Indian Ocean, close to the coast of one of the world's most politically unstable nations. Somalia, earlier in the year, had a tremendous moment of unrest when a police chief was shot dead in Mogadishu, and the newly minted cabinet was forced to move out of the country. This was only the latest development in a decades' long sequence of division and violence that had left the population in dire straits.

The pirates who attacked MV Feisty Gas would originally have been part of a group of people who lived along the coast of Somalia, relying on the lengthy coastline of the country for fishing. With frequent government collapses and a lack of stable authority in the country, there was no one left to protect these fishermen, whose waters were soon being exploited by foreign fishing vessels with environment-threatening fishing technology like underwater lights and illegal nets.

Some of these fishermen took matters into their own hands, and since the early 90s, conducted small-scale pirate activities mainly in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, hijacking foreign fishing vessels and "detaining" their crew, freeing them for a "fine". By the mid 2005s, however, amid continued government instability, piracy increased in Somali waters.

MV Feisty Gas from Hong Kong happened to be the one of the most ambitious attempts at piracy in the region until that time.

The company that owned it paid the pirates USD 315,000 as ransom for freeing the ship and its crew. In 2005, a total of eight vessels were successfully captured.

Attacks continued through 2006, when another eight vessels were successfully captured and ransomed by these Somali pirates.

Between 2006 and 2009, Somalia found itself in war. Ethiopia intervened in the ongoing civil war against the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) who had taken some effective steps against piracy.

As the war raged on, an uptick in piracy followed.

In 2007, a Danish vessel named MV Danica White fetched another 723,000 dollars, as the attacks increased in profile and number, rising to 11 successful captures through the year. In early 2008, another Danish-flag bearing vessel was captured, released for another 700,000 dollars.

Piracy increased dramatically in 2008, with a total of 22 successful hijackings. Some of the notable ransom payments include a payout of around 750,000 euros from a Spanish ship, before the stakes were raised once again. Two Malaysian vessels were freed for 4 million dollars in September, followed by the Japanese ship, MV Stella Maris, which was ransomed for USD 2 million in October. More ships from Japan, Germany, Thailand, and France were captured and released for ransoms during this time.

One of the most notable piracy incidents during this time was when a Ukrainian vessel carrying 33 tanks, including ammunition and arms, was captured by Somali pirates. The pirates demanded an eye-watering USD 14 million for ransom, but eventually settled for 3.2 million dollars for a release.

Piracy along the Somalia coast and in the Indian Ocean became a major headache for the international community between 2009 and 2011, with 95 successful hijacks in three years, according to data by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and World Bank.

Ransoms rose sharply in these three years, with cumulative revenue of all ransoms collected in the region reaching USD 330 million according to high estimates, and 278 million by low estimates. On average, a ship fetched USD 2.20 million in 2009, 2.67 million in 2010, and 5.04 million in 2011.

Among these ships was a Bangladeshi vessel named MV Jahan Moni. With 25 crew and 43,000 tonnes of nickel ore, the ship was captured in December, 2010, and then ransomed for over USD 4 million. The ship and crew were safely returned.

Starting from 2008, due to efforts by Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and the UN Security Council, foreign countries were allowed to fight piracy in Somali waters with the authorisation of the government. These efforts took time to take effect, but by the end of 2011, piracy attacks came down. In 2012, only eight successful hijacking attempts were made, the lowest in six years.

Since then, piracy off the coast of Somalia had largely been considered a problem solved by the international community. Attacks were few and far between, and meanwhile, first signs of stability started to show in Somali politics. The Federal Government of Somalia took power in 2012, and has been in power since. Although things have remained far from peaceful, with insurgencies like Al-Shabaab waging war, Somali piracy was largely in check.

In fact, in January 2023, the High Risk Area status was lifted from the Indian Ocean due to a lack of significant pirate activity in the ocean.

The situation changed again following Israel's invasion of Gaza late last year. Houthi rebels in Yemen have begun piracy in the red sea and created major disruptions to world trade. With the international community and security forces' attention switched elsewhere, it is feared that Somali piracy is making a comeback. In November, 2023, a Liberian-flagged ship owned by an Israeli billionaire was attacked.

The attack on MV Abdullah, a Bangladeshi bulk carrier, marks a return to ambitious levels of piracy by the Somalis after a long time. While efforts are ongoing to rescue the ship, the country waits with bated breath for the safe return of each and every crew member.