Piracy, Houthi attacks: resurgence of maritime insecurity worldwide in 2024

Piracy more than doubled in 2024 after reaching a historic low, while attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and drug trafficking continued to disrupt global maritime traffic, the French maritime security expertise center MICA Center said Tuesday.

A total of 60 acts of piracy were recorded worldwide, an increase of 110 percent compared to 2023, according to the annual report of the Maritime Information Cooperation & Awareness (MICA) Center, based at the French Navy headquarters in Brest.

Incidents of robbery — attacks against ships in a state’s territorial waters — increased by 5 percent, with 280 recorded cases. The two most affected regions were the Caribbean, accounting for 42 percent of incidents, and the Singapore Strait, which saw 34 percent.

Once the epicenter of maritime insecurity, the Gulf of Guinea saw only six acts of piracy in 2024. More than two-thirds of piracy incidents (42) occurred off Somalia’s coast, where attacks mainly targeted vessels involved in illegal fishing. This phenomenon resembles "revenge acts by local fishermen or Somali pirates," said Commander Thomas Scalabre, head of the MICA Center.

“The disruption caused by the (Houthi) rebels in Yemen provided an opportunity for Somali pirates,” Scalabre told AFP.

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Houthi attacks disrupt Red Sea traffic

Maritime traffic at the entrance to the Red Sea has been severely disrupted by Houthi attacks in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, carried out "in solidarity" with Palestinians following the start of the war in Gaza.

The Houthis have launched about 700 munitions — including 40 percent ballistic missiles and 56 percent aerial drones — at commercial vessels linked to Israeli, British, or American interests, according to the report.

“The Houthis claim to have hit more than 200 ships, but we recorded 124 attacks,” Scalabre said.

Among those, 27 ships were lightly damaged and continued their journey. Six were more severely affected, with four sailors killed. A crew of 25 was held hostage for more than 430 days.

“The precision rate of the Houthi attacks is quite low, around 7 percent,” Scalabre noted. “They could fire up to 12 ballistic missiles at a ship, and the ship would escape.”

To guide their strikes, the rebels use ships' Automatic Identification System (AIS), an anti-collision device that publicly transmits real-time location data.

"About 85 percent of targeted ships had their AIS activated. When AIS was off, only 5 percent of attacks were successful," the report said, concluding that "sailing with AIS on increases the risk of attack."

Despite their low accuracy, Houthi attacks have forced most of the 27,000 ships that transit the Red Sea each year to reroute around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope. This detour led to a 26 million-ton increase in CO2 emissions — up 10 percent — according to the report.

Although the Houthis have not attacked a commercial ship since November, "we advise maritime companies to remain cautious and not return en masse to the Red Sea," Scalabre said.

Drug trafficking poses growing maritime threat

Another major threat to maritime security is drug trafficking, which “has a real impact on shipping companies,” Scalabre added.

An estimated 90 percent of the world’s cocaine is transported by sea, with much of it routed through Africa before being discreetly smuggled aboard container ships bound for Europe. In Ecuador and Colombia, armed “narco-pirates” board container ships and hide up to a ton of cocaine in under an hour.