Commercial ships have been told to avoid shipping routes around Indonesia and Philippines amid fears that piracy could be reaching Somalian levels, according to Reuters.
Luhut Pandjaitan, Chief Security Minister for Indonesia, said: “We don't want to see this become a new Somalia.”
A Spokeperson for the Indonesian Military added that commercial ships have been told to “avoid piracy-prone waters around the southern Philippines.”
Technical Paper: The Effects of Piracy on Ports
Piracy is currently an issue of concern for maritime companies and affiliates globally, since levels have persisted in 2015 in comparison to 2014.
As digital technologies advance, shipping companies are more at risk than ever, since pirates now make use of technologies to hack into company assets.
The most recent incident involved a CMA CGM containership, which was hijacked off the coast of Nigeria, with one crew member kidnapped.
There are still no reports as to whether the crew member has been found, however, it is believed that the seafarer has not been harmed.
