Of all areas of the world where yachts venture, it is the traditional cruising ground of the Caribbean that was and continues to be the most dangerous. This fact was highlighted in the annual Maritime Crime Statistics produced by Dryad Maritime, the specialist marine security company.

In respect of the Caribbean last year, Dryad commented in their 2015 Statistics report that: “The boarding of anchored yachts in coves and off harbours throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America has been occurring for many years. A hallmark of these crimes is the use of violence, which has been occasionally fatal.

“This was seen again,” it continued, “in an incident in the Rosario Islands, Colombia, in September where the wife of a yacht owner was killed. Around Trinidad, there has been an increase in attacks against local fishermen and yachts, reportedly by Venezuelan nationals. Major ports in Colombia and Venezuela have again seen sporadic boardings of motor vessels for the purpose of cargo theft.”

In respect of the statistics for the Rest of World zone, which includes the Americas and Caribbean, Dryad recorded a marked increase in crime levels during 2015, up from 16 to 50. “The majority of these,” it states, “have been acts of robbery from sailing vessels around the Caribbean, Central and South America. This has been attributed to better reporting from the cruising community, and Dryad suspects that this increase during 2015 better reflects the actual number of incidents taking place annually.”

Dryad says that it expects to provide much of the same pattern of maritime crime, with the robbery of anchored yachts in the Caribbean making up the majority of reported incidents. There are some emerging hot spots, namely around Trinidad and Tobago and the Chinese port of Tianjin.

In terms of the other areas, according to Dryad there were no confirmed merchant ships seized in the Indian Ocean in 2015, although 18 fishing vessels and dhows were affected. There were no incidents involving yachts.

The Gulf of Guinea in West Africa recorded a 29% fall in incidents from 69 in 2014 to 49 last year and again no yacht incidents were listed. South East Asia is the area of main concern where there was a 10% rise in the number of incidents from 214 in 2014 to 236 last year. In total some 96 seamen were captured, of which nine were killed and 47 remain in captivity.

Regarding the Mediterranean, no incidents were reported but the growing migrant situation is a major cause of concern.

By David Robinson