2010: Pirates ventured farther as ships avoided Somalia. 2014: Allied efforts dramatically reduced piracy. Source: Economist 11/29/2014 |
A highly trained team of recent Royal Marines with considerable weaponry are protecting this small expedition ship as we cross the waves where Somali pirates hijacked, plundered, and held for ransom many unprotected vessels not long ago.
We have been told that an armed ship like ours has never once been boarded by Somali pirates. And the security team from Solace Global inspires complete confidence.
Thus a few bold cruise lines are now tentatively re-entering the territory. Just a couple of years ago a passenger cruise through these waters would not have been tried, even with armaments.
However, the crackdown on piracy has been extremely successful with only one piracy attempt on the many thousands of commercial and other ships plying the western Indian Ocean in 2014.
Of course that one incident was by Zanzibar (Tanzania) where we just visited. (Post forthcoming.) And we are now headed east to the Seychelles across an area still considered somewhat or slightly at risk.
In Zanzibar, our ship was berthed by a container ship with razor wire around its windows and dummies standing watch (perhaps credible silhouettes from a distance). |