For the fourth consecutive year, the Maritime Information Cooperation & Awareness Center (MICA Center) has published an annual review on maritime security. This report identifies and characterises the events recorded during the year 2022 that affect maritime security worldwide.

Based in Brest and placed under the direct authority of the Deputy Chief of the French Navy’s operations staff, the MICA Center collects and relays useful information to all actors in the field of maritime industry. Its purpose is to process maritime security data worldwide.

The decline in maritime piracy and robbery that began in 2021 continued this year. In 2022, the MICA Center recorded 300 incidents, which represents a decrease around 5% compared to 2021. This decrease is due in particular to a noteworthy drop in piracy events, while acts of robbery are stable or even increasing in some areas of the world.

Although the Gulf of Guinea is still viewed as one of the most dangerous areas in the world, due in particular to the pirates’mode of action, until mid-December the region saw only a very low number of piracy incidents. However, vigilance remains key in this region of the world, which is still affected by all the security threats in maritime areas

In the Indian Ocean, in the Gulf of Guinea and in South East Asia, robbery has not followed this general trend. On the contrary, the MICA Center has recorded an increasing number of acts of theft in these regions. Thefts from anchorage areas or traffic separation schemes continue, in most cases without violence. It is likely that the global economic crisis will only exacerbate this trend in these already unstable and less-policed areas.

Drug trafficking, human trafficking and smuggling remain a major concern for the maritime industry in all areas of the world. However, current geopolitical events have highlighted other threats to maritime space, such as those to undersea cables and pipelines or cyber risks affecting ships and port infrastructures.

You can find the full 2022 Annual Review and a complete presentation of the Maritime Information Cooperation & Awareness Center (MICA Center) on its website: https://www.mica-center.org

You can also follow the MICA Center on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/mica-center/

Photos credits: MICA