International Maritime Piracy Flourished In 2020

Despite the disruption of vessel trade caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, maritime piracy and armed robbery at sea continued to plague shipping interests in 2020. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is a global business association with more than six million members in 130 countries.¹ ICC's International Maritime Bureau (IMB) recently published its annual piracy report reflecting an increase in hostile and armed attacks against vessels in 2020.² IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) compiles global statistics for each calendar year. The PRC annual report detailed 195 incidents of piracy attacks in 2020 — a sharp increase from the 162 reported attacks in 2019. Id. According to the PRC report, the prevalence of vessel attacks occurring in the Gulf of Guinea and the Singapore Straits accounts for the increase in this criminal enterprise. Last year, there were no attacks in Somalia.