Shipping organization BIMCO is tipping up its require marine assistance to deal with piracy in the Gulf of Guinea after a yearly record the International Maritime Bureau reveals that assaults in West Africa boosted in 2018.

According to the bureau’s record, there were 201 events reported to the bureau in 2015 (consisting of 6 hijackings)– every one of which took place in the Gulf ofGuinea That is an increase from 180 events in 2017 and also from 191 in 2016.

The record likewise revealed that the area saw a substantial spike in physical violence in the last quarter of the year, with 41 kidnappings in the waters off Nigeria alone. In West Africa, there seems obstacles with underreporting, which is approximated at as long as 40%, the record states.

Turning the trend of piracy and also assaults would certainly not a challenging procedure in regards to army and also police, according to Jakob P. Larsen, BIMCO Head of Maritime Security, and also it is the very best method to deal with piracy in the area.

“To be honest, unless we see international naval support and close cooperation between international navies and local law enforcement, I doubt that we will see the numbers go down in any significant way,” Larsen states.

“Significant capacity building is going on in the region and naval forces are being trained, but these initiatives are all aimed at the longer term and do not solve the problem right now. Therefore, we need to step up the effort. Only then can we really turn the tide on piracy in the region,” he states.

Larsen thinks that what is required is to integrate the capability structure with even more possessions mixed-up and also airborne in order to accomplish an extra durable neighborhood police.

“In the light of the new report, showing that piracy rose in 2018, we are once again calling for international navies to deploy to the region of West Africa primarily, and to cooperate closely with law enforcement from the region,” Larsen states,

“This is in the interest of everybody. It is obviously in the interest of the seafarers, but each and every one of the naval powers in the world have a strategic interest in this region, since there is a lot of strategic commodities that comes out of the Gulf of Guinea region. It really is in the interest of the international society to make this trade smoother, and to protect the seafarers on whom we so deeply depend to keep the trade flowing,” Larsen included.