After years of relative calm, Somali piracy is once again resurging, with a growing number of vessels being targeted off and in the Gulf of Aden, prompting renewed concerns among the international shipping community.
According to Reuters, at least 13 commercial ships had been attacked or targeted as of 21 August, marking a sharp reversal after piracy in the region declined significantly in recent years.
Tankers reel under Somali piracy threat
The latest victim of Somali pirates was an oil tanker under for allegedly transporting Iranian petroleum products that was boarded off the coast of Yemen and diverted towards Somalia. According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), Sibu 1, the Eritrea-flagged vessel, was seized on 20 August by six armed men. The tanker was placed under US Treasury sanctions in December last year over allegations that it was part of a shadow fleet used to help Iranian petroleum products circumvent Washington’s .
13 vessels attacked by Somali pirates
Since April, at least six tankers and cargo ships have been seized. According to a report in The Chosun Daily, the hijacking of the Palau-flagged tanker Honor 25 in Somali waters in April marked the beginning of these incidents. On 26 April, pirates seized the Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged cargo ship Sword, followed by the Togo-flagged tanker Eureka on 2 May and the Tanzania-flagged tanker Asana on 17 July. On the same day, they also hijacked the Cameroon-flagged cargo vessel Lutuf, which was carrying Turkish military weapons. Six merchant vessels were captured over four months.
Citing reports from the UKMTO and data from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), Reuters reported that Sibu 1 became the 13th victim of the pirates off the coast of Somalia or in the Gulf of Aden, which links Somalia and Yemen.
History of Somali piracy
According to The Chosun Daily, pirates emerged in the early 1990s after the civil war in Somalia collapsed the national economy. Pirates used to hijack ships in the Gulf of Aden and along Somalia’s coast to steal cargo and extort ransoms. According to a 2011 UN report, estimated annual losses were reported at $7 billion, with insurers forced to pay exorbitant premiums to cover these losses.
These attacks were brought to an end by a coordinated international security effort involving a 47-nation coalition naval force led by countries, including the . The US military expanded operations, deploying aircraft carrier strike groups. A resurgence of hijackings between 2023 and 2024 also subsided after a strong naval response.
According to IMB data, just five such attacks were recorded in 2025, a sharp decline from the hundreds of attacks carried out by Somali pirates between 2008 and 2014, which triggered a security crisis in the western Indian Ocean and cost the billions of dollars, including hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.
Experts on Somali piracy issue
However, experts warn that the underlying economic and security problems in Somalia remain unresolved, meaning piracy could resurface at any time. Timothy Walker, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, told Reuters, “The piracy was always suppressed. It was never really fully eradicated.”
Experts have also pointed to the impact of the on the resurgence in piracy, including higher oil prices making tankers more attractive targets and the diversion of naval assets from anti-piracy operations to the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea to counter threats from Iran and its Houthi allies in Yemen.
Additionally, some experts have cited evidence of collaboration between the Iran-backed rebel group, the Houthis, and Somali pirates, after several vessels were seized near the Yemeni coast.
(with Reuters inputs)
