Total ship piracy and armed robbery incidents Asia 2014-2023

The year 2023 saw 100 ship piracy and armed robbery incidents across Asia. This was a significant decrease from 2015, when there were over two hundred incidents of ship piracy and armed robberies throughout Asia. Asia accounted for just over half of the pirate attacks worldwide in 2022. 

Reasons behind piracy and armed robbery

 The number of ship piracy and armed robbery attacks has fluctuated from the onset of 2010. Likely reasons for the differing numbers can be attributed to a lack of law enforcement on the seas and in some cases, social and political unrest in certain regions. Pirate attacks are defined as those which take place outside the jurisdiction of a state, those inside are classed as armed robberies. Piracy and armed robbery attacks on ships have been viewed as opportunistic raids, in which the perpetrator usually witnesses valuable goods being loaded on board a ship and attempts to steal them.

An increase in incidents

Although piracy and armed robbery incidents were seen to decrease in 2019, the rate increased once again in 2020. It is thought that the outbreak of the coronavirus sparked an increase of incidents, as economic hardship could have been a motivation for people to perform criminal acts. The Southeast Asian region had the highest number of attempted and actual piracy attacks worldwide in 2022. Of these, most of the incidents which occurred while ships were underway were located on the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS), a common route for commercial shipments which is located between Malaysia and Indonesia.