Costs of Indian Ocean Pirates: $12 billion

Piracy continues to be a growing concern in the Indian Ocean, mostly due to Somali pirates. Here are some key figures from the articles referenced below.

• The total cost of piracy in the Indian Ocean in 2010 — almost all of it by Somali pirates — is estimated to be between $7 billion (Sh560 billion) and $12 billion (Sh960 billion), and could top $15 billion by 2015, according to analysts.
• A recent study reported that Somali pirates are earning up to $79,000 a year, 150 times the average annual income in Somalia.
• The gulfs of Aden and Oman are among the world’s major shipping lanes: About 21,000 ships, and 11 per cent of global crude oil traffic, cross the Gulf of Aden every year.
• Incidents of piracy have soared from 276 in 2005 to 445 in 2010. According to the International Maritime Bureau, there were 142 attacks between January and March 2011 – 97 off the coast of Somalia – up from 35 in the same period the previous year and an all-time high.
• Pirates managed to seize 18 vessels worldwide, capturing more than 340 hostages in attacks in which seven crew members died and 34 were injured. Over the past five years, Somali pirates’ ransom demands have increased a staggering thirty-six fold, from an average of $150,000 in 2005 to $5.4 million in 2010.
• Britain has agreed to fund a £6 million programme to support counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Total+cost+of+Somali+piracy+menace+hits++12bn/-/539546/1158496/-/3g2jinz/-/

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/UK+to+fund+prison+for+pirates+as+violence+rises/-/2558/1158254/-/gp0ein/-/