Newsletters
Pirates are once again preying on ships in the Gulf of Aden and the waters stretching from the Red Sea to the western Indian Ocean, with 79 attacks recorded since November 2023 as wars in Yemen, the Horn of Africa and Iran destabilize the region. A European Union naval mission led by a Spanish frigate patrols the area to protect one of the world’s busiest trade routes.
During a recent patrol near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Spanish special forces aboard the frigate held a live-fire exercise in preparation for possible operations to retake hijacked vessels. The drill was only practice, but piracy poses a genuine threat. The frigate heads the EU’s naval security mission in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali basin, and its commandos were sharpening their combat skills should they be tasked with retaking hijacked ships.
Naval commanders see an indirect connection between the conflicts and the rise in attacks
“Instability causes instability. Instability causes illegal activities. Illegal activities cause clans to go to the sea,” Vice Adm. Ignacio Villanueva, who commands the EU’s Operation Atalanta, told The Associated Press (AP).
Set up in 2008 as a multilayered anti-piracy naval force, Atalanta covers the western Indian Ocean as well as the Gulf of Aden, near the Arabian Peninsula’s southern tip. Some 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the north sits the Bab el-Mandeb, a key artery for world commerce. In peacetime, about 12% of global trade, including one-quarter of container shipping, passes through it between Asia and Europe.
Under 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) wide, the Bab el-Mandeb has seen fierce fighting between Yemen’s government forces and Houthi rebels. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been heavily disrupted, turning the Bab el-Mandeb into a substitute route for oil exports from the Persian Gulf and raising its strategic weight.
The AP gained uncommon access to the Spanish vessel at the head of the EU’s Atalanta operation.
Over 200 sailors, men and women, serve aboard the ESPS Santa María, a 40-year-old, 4,000-ton warship armed with artillery, torpedoes, missiles and belt-fed heavy-caliber guns. From its rear flight deck, a helicopter and a drone routinely take off to monitor the area from above and deter potential pirates.
Cmdr. Fernando Maria Zumalacarregui Alario, the ship’s commanding officer, warned that attacks on merchant vessels off East Africa endanger the Western way of life.
“If it is in danger, if it is threatened, you are not going to have what you need. The prices are going to rise, and our life is going to be much worse,” he told the AP on the bridge.
Roughly 30 of the 79 pirate attacks recorded in the region since November 2023, when the Houthis began targeting shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb over Israel’s war in Gaza, came after the Iran war broke out in February, said Portuguese Commodore Jose Rodrigues Pedra, Atalanta’s commander at sea.
“I am not saying that there is a direct link with this crisis, but what I can say is that crisis creates crisis,” Rodrigues Pedra added from his cabin aboard the frigate.
Operating out of a French military base in Djibouti, Atalanta also flies a surveillance plane on air patrols, relying on radar, a sophisticated built-in camera system and navy photographers with long lenses.
Data gathered by the mission goes to partner forces from other European countries, the United States, South Korea, Japan, India and regional powers.
The EU runs two naval operations in the region. Besides Atalanta, Operation Aspides concentrates on the Red Sea with a larger fleet.
Somali piracy, in decline for years, is climbing again amid economic stagnation, widespread malnutrition, political deadlock and civil unrest, analysts say. The United Nations reported in February that roughly 30% of the population faces dangerous levels of food insecurity as international aid shrinks sharply.
Pirates based in Somalia’s Puntland region have taken over fuel tankers and captured a Turkish ship transporting weapons for the Somali government. In a new tactic that exploits the chaos in the southern Arabian Peninsula, attackers have launched raids off Yemen’s coast before steering seized vessels toward Somalia.
Tracking the resurgence, the AP counted six commercial vessels hijacked from April to August this year.
Five have since been released, but pirates continued to hold the MT Asana, a Tanzanian-flagged tanker seized in July, in Somali territorial waters, according to Operation Atalanta’s Oct. 16 update. Earlier in October, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said the vessel still had 22 captive seafarers aboard.
Hostages remain at risk even after ships are recovered. Five crew members lost their lives during a September operation to retake the tanker Honour 25, held since April. The IMO said rescuers freed 44 seafarers from the Honour 25 and two other tankers, Eureka and Sibu 1, also known as Seamull.
Attackers have often gone after fishing boats, using them as floating bases for strikes on larger ships. In early November, Indian forces rescued one such Iranian vessel following a more than 48-hour operation, India’s Defense Ministry said.
Hijackings in the region first peaked 15 years ago, with Somali attackers seizing hostages and demanding millions in ransom. Efforts to curb them proved largely effective until 2023, but “the conditions have always been there for piracy to reemerge,” said Jakob Larsen, safety and security chief at BIMCO, a major shipowners association.
Soaring fuel prices driven by the Iran war may also be pushing people to seek new sources of income. “Piracy is one such way,” Larsen noted.
Christopher Hockey, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, argued that piracy benefits both Iran and the Houthis as they tighten their grip on the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb.
“It suits the Houthis, it suits the Iranians to have further disruption of maritime traffic through piracy,” Hockey said. He cautioned that regional sea lanes could soon split into cargo ships paying for costly guards and those without protection, left exposed to capture.
No ship with an armed security team aboard has ever been hijacked, Hockey noted. “Those vessels that are saving money, or doing something dodgy, they’re the ones who are going to continue to be targeted,” he added.
He and other analysts interviewed by the AP credit the EU mission with helping curb piracy, though gauging its impact is hard, as commanders report that would-be pirates tend to retreat once they spot a drone, plane, helicopter or ship.
Mahmoud Shehrah, a former Yemeni diplomat and fellow at the Chatham House think tank, said shipping firms have begun diverting vessels, tightening security and absorbing higher costs such as insurance. Beyond piracy, he added that the Houthis have “significantly expanded their logistical influence across the Horn of Africa.”
Mohammed al-Basha, founder of risk advisory firm Basha Report, said the Houthis have offered protection services to some companies.
“They’re like, ‘OK, so Suez Canal is making six billion a year and, you know, we have a natural canal, the strait. It’s the Bab el-Mandeb. And so how do we make money from that?’”
Set as preferred source
Set as preferred source
2 min read
