BREST, France: Acts of piracy remained stable worldwide in 2023, at a historically low level, despite a resurgence of tension in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, a maritime security center announced Monday.

A total of 295 acts of piracy and brigandage were recorded last year, compared with 300 in 2022, the lowest since statistics began in 2008, according to the annual review by the Maritime Information Cooperation & Awareness (MICA) Center, based in Brest, northwest France.

“The overall number of acts of piracy and robbery is stable,” the report said with an upward trend in Southeast Asia being offset by a slight fall in the Caribbean arc.

“Globally we are seeing stable trends”, despite “numerous areas of insecurity in the Indian Ocean”, Eric Jaslin, head of the MICA Center, told AFP.

The end of 2023 was marked by a wave of attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Huthi rebels against merchant ships around the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.

Around 12 percent of world trade passes through this strait.

“The threat is violent, with missiles and drones loaded with explosives. There is a real concern around this strait”, Jaslin stressed.

Last year, 47 attacks of this type were recorded, mainly around Bab-el-Mandeb, but also near the Strait of Hormuz (at the mouth of the Persian Gulf) and off the Indian coast.

A recommendation has been made to merchant ships to turn off their AIS (Automatic Identification System) signal, which enables them to be located in real time, as they approach the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Or, failing that, to transmit as little information as possible.

“It’s not a guarantee of survival, but it does make the enemy’s job harder,” said Jaslin.

Cases of piracy have also been recorded off the coast of Somalia for the first time since 2017.

“Is this piracy of opportunity, because all (military) resources are focused on the Red Sea? Or is this a phenomenon that is starting up again? It’s too early to say,” he added.

Meanwhile in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, until recently considered to be among the most dangerous in the world for piracy, only seven ships were pirated in 2023, compared to 26 in 2019.

However, the number of kidnappings has started to rise again, with 18 people abducted in 2023 compared with just two in 2022, still well below the heights of the 146 people kidnapped in 2019.

In this zone “there’s always the potential for things to start up again”, warned Jaslin.

Created in 2016, the MICA Center monitors global maritime traffic 24 hours a day. It has forged partnerships with 65 shipping companies.