In its newly published report for Q1 2025, the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said it had recorded 27 vessel incidents in the Singapore Straits, compared to seven in the first quarter of 2024, with most of these events described as ‘low-level opportunistic crimes.’
While these incidents were not classed as serious, the ICC IMB notes that guns were reported in 14 of them. Across the full year in 2024, the presence of guns was reported in 26 incidents globally.
In the Singapore Strait, 10 crew members were taken hostage in six separate incidents, two were threatened and one was reported injured.
Ninety-two percent of all vessels targeted in this area were successfully boarded, including nine bulk carriers and tankers over 100,000 deadweight tons
On a global basis, a total of 45 cases of piracy and armed robbery against ships were recorded in the first three months of 2025 – a near 35% increase compared to the same period in 2024.
Of these incidents, 37 vessels were boarded, four were hijacked and four had attempted attacks. The ICC IMB warns that the threat to crew safety remains high with 37 crew members taken hostage, 13 kidnapped, two threatened and one injured.
Although the number of reported incidents within the Gulf of Guinea waters and adjoining littoral states continues to be at its lowest in nearly two decades, the ICC IMB urges continued caution.
All 13 kidnapped crew were reported in these waters in two separate attacks – with a total of six incidents reported in the first quarter of the year. In March, pirates hijacked a bitumen tanker southeast of Santo Antonio, in Sao Tome and Principe, kidnapping 10 crew members – while a fishing vessel south of Accra, Ghana, was boarded by armed pirates who kidnapped three crew members.
The piracy threat off Somalia also remains, with two fishing vessels and a dhow having been hijacked off its coast between 7 February and 16 March 2025.
In these incidents, 26 crew members were taken hostage but, according to the ICC IMB, reports indicate that all crew have now been released along with the vessels.
