Redrawing the rules

Marcos Garcia Norris, of Novae Group, considers how advanced software is redefining the piracy market

For more than a decade the piracy market has been dominated by concerns about the level of activity in East Africa, particularly in Somalia and the Gulf of Aden. During 2013 these two areas alone were responsible for more than 90% of all pirate attacks globally. The market has worked hard to manage the risk by implementing deterrents such as hardening vessels, deploying international navies, expanding military land based anti-piracy operations and hiring private armed guards aboard vessels. These measures have proved effective as demonstrated by the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) most recent study, which found that Somalia based piracy has fallen to its lowest level since 2006. However, while this is undoubtedly positive news, in West Africa the problem is still evolving and continues to present significant challenges.