The repeated attacks taking place this year 2021 in the Gulf of Guinea call for urgent action. Thus, stakeholders develop guidelines to combat piracy and security risks

Some of the world's largest maritime organizations are developing a plan to address the changing nature of piracy and other maritime security risks, following recent incidents off the coast of West Africa and the Middle East. Groups such as the International Chamber of Shipping and BIMCO are working to establish the new guidelines by the end of the year. According to Jakob Larsen, head of maritime safety and security at BIMCO, the plan is to make it easier for ships to assess risks, so that they can decide whether to change their itinerary. The groups drafting the new maritime security guidelines (which include Intercargo, Intertanko, and the Oil Companies International Marine Forum...) also plan to reduce the size of the high-risk area in the Indian Ocean due to the decrease in the risk of piracy near Somalia

According to the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), this decision will allow merchant ships to move more quickly and eliminate many of the difficulties encountered by ships in high-risk areas. The Gulf of West Africa hosted nearly a third of the 68 piracy incidents reported in the first half of this year, including the 50 kidnapped crew members, according to the International Maritime Bureau. The waters around the Arabian Peninsula have also become a hot spot for ship attacks in recent years, mainly due to growing tensions between nations in the region. Last month, two crew members were killed in an attack on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman.