The monsoons have ended which means that it is pirate season again off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. The bad news is that it is now estimated that piracy off Somalia is costing the international shipping industry at least $100 million a year. The only slightly less bad news is that while pirate attacks rose 62% last year, the hijacking success fell to 22%, resulting in the number of successful seizures being about the same as in 2008.
Piracy costs shipping firms over $100m annually, says report