Piracy Incidents Surge to Five-Year High Driven by Singapore Strait

The mid-year report on piracy and armed robberies against ships shows the number of incidents surged up 50 percent in the first six months of 2025, reports the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB).  The Piracy Reporting Center is urging caution and expressing strong concern, noting that the rise of incidents in the Singapore Strait corresponds to a critical shipping route handling nearly a third of global trade flows.

There was a total of 90 reported incidents in the first six months of the year compared with 60 in the first six months of 2024. IMB reports that it is the highest incident rate for the first half of a year since 2020. Further, it raises concern because in 90 percent of the cases, the vessels, while mostly underway, were successfully boarded. This year’s mid-year total is also three-quarters of the way to the total of 116 incidents reported for all of 2024.

Nearly two-thirds of the total number of incidents reported were in the region around the Singapore Strait. IMB received reports of 57 incidents this year compared with just 15 in the first half of 2024. The data shows a steady range of less than 20 incidents in the first half of each of the past few years.

“The boarding of large vessels exceeding 150,000 dwt in this narrow and congested waterway remains a significant concern, particularly given the 95 percent success rate of boardings in the Singapore Strait,” writes IBM in its report. “Although relatively low-level incidents, this risk is further compounded by the continued use of guns and knives in 34 of the 57 reported incidents. Crew safety and wellbeing also remain fragile, with 13 crew members held hostage during incidents, five threatened, three injured, and one assaulted.”

The region monitoring operation in Asia ReCAAP has also been sounding the alarm over the increase in incidents in the region and specifically around the Singapore Strait. It shows a current tally of 107 reported incidents across Asia so far in 2025.

In the past week (June 30 to July 7), ReCAAP reports a total of 11 incidents of armed robbery in Asia with all of them on vessels in the eastbound lane of the Singapore Strait. There were three incidents on July 1 and another three on July 4, with the others distributed across the week. In four of the cases, engine spare parts were stolen, and in one case, a CMA CGM containership discovered boarders had gotten aboard for 10 minutes going undetected. None of the crew was injured in any of the cases, but it highlights the increased dangers.

Overall, the IMB calculates that 40 crew were taken hostage, 16 kidnapped, five threatened, three assaulted, and three injured so far in 2025. The Gulf of Guinea, while recording a lower number of overall incidents this year, accounted for 87 percent of the crew kidnappings. There were a total of 12 incidents reported, which is in the range of 10 to 14 incidents in recent first half of the year.

Other regions remained overall calm with only a small number of piracy incidents reported. IMB urges seafarers to exercise vigilance, noting that the risks remain. It notes, for example, that there have been no incidents off Somalia since April 2025, but as monsoon season subsides, the risk will increase.