In the first nine months of this year the acts of piracy against there were 90 ships, the lowest number since 1992 and in decrease compared to 97 accidents that occurred in the correspondent period of 2021. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has announced that in the first nine months of 2022 pirates managed to get on board of ships in 95% of reported incidents and that 85 ships are have been boarded (85 in the same period of 2021), four are have been the subject of attempted attack (9) and one ship has been seized (1). Most of the accidents occurred when the ships were at anchor (40 ships compared to 50 in the first nine months of 2021) or mooring at the quay (13 ships compared to seven), but 37 ships (40 in the first nine months of 2021) were attacked while they were sailing.

In the first nine months of this year there were 27 members of the crews taken hostage (eight in the same period of 2021), six seafarers were attacked (2) and five were attacked threatened (5).

The largest number of pirate attacks occurred against bulk carriers, with 30 assaults (20 in the same period of 2021), followed by tankers with 18 assaults (17), container ships with five (17) and other ships with five assaults (14).

With regard to the regions at greatest risk, in the period January-September 2022 in the Gulf of Guinea, the most dangerous in recent years, 13 accidents have been reported compared to 27 in the corresponding period last year. On the other hand, accidents in the Straits of Singapore with 31 attacks reported compared to 21 in the top nine months of 2021. Relative to South America, in the anchorage area of Callao, Peru, there were eight accidents (15) and five accidents occurred in the anchorage area of the Macapa Bay, Brazil, including one that happened when aboard a bulk carrier was present six members of a team of security that they were attacked and tied up by pirates.

If in the first nine months of this year the number of acts of reported piracy has decreased, in the third quarter alone it is instead increased having occurred 32 accidents compared to 29 in the corresponding period last year.