Dhe days when Somali pirates were the most notorious threat to international shipping seem to be over. The biggest challenges for shipping are now Chinese lockdowns, global ship congestion and the high demand for goods caused by the pandemic, which is exhausting the industry’s capacities. Piracy has thus disappeared from the headlines, but not from international maritime trade. In 2020 alone, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) counted 229 incidents in which more than a hundred people were taken hostage.
Compared to the previous year, the attacks have even increased by 20 percent. The pandemic is also likely to be partly to blame here, as many people have lost their jobs and been pushed into the arms of criminal organizations to support themselves and their families. But piracy no longer hits the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, but the coasts of West Africa, the South China Sea and the Malacca Straits. The latter, like the Gulf of Aden, is one of the most important sea trade routes between Europe and Asia.
