International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

The threat of maritime piracy has not disappeared with the decline in Somali piracy since 2011-2012. Piracy has surged in other regions and now the tactic is to kidnap the crew for ransom. Although at present many ships employ self-defense measures, pirate attacks become more sophisticated and demonstrate a remarkable degree of success. Considering the presence and the evolution of this threat, the improvement of anti-piracy protection of vessels is increasingly important. The purpose of this survey is to track the evolution of pirate practices (character of attacks, targets, tactics, weapons and equipment), along with the evolution of anti-piracy measures, within the period 2008-2017.

Maritime piracy and armed robbery against ships are one of the contemporary challenges to the shipping and have global impact on maritime trade and security. Following the boom of Somali piracy in 2009-2011, there has been a downward trend since 2012, resulting mostly from the international counter-piracy efforts, with reaching its lowest value for the last 20 years in 2017. However statistics show doubling the number of attacks in some other regions in the last several years accompanied by increased levels of violence. This report presents a survey of maritime piracy and armed robberies over the last ten years (2008-2017) by regions and countries, as well as by type of attacks on ships, personnel and cargo, with the purpose to outline the trends in contemporary marine crime.