Modern day pirates are organized criminal groups that attack ships for money. They steal cargo and crew belongings, kidnap seafarers or hold a whole ship for ransom. They use fast skiffs, firearms and ladders, not tall ships and cutlasses.
The IMB recorded 137 piracy and armed robbery incidents in 2025, the highest in four years. Where pirates are active and how the numbers have changed is covered in do pirates still exist. This article explains how modern pirates operate and how ships defend against them.
What Do Modern Day Pirates Do?
Modern pirates follow four business models: armed robbery of ships and crew, kidnapping for ransom, hijacking a ship for ransom, and stealing cargo, usually fuel. Each region tends to favor one model.
| Crime model | What pirates take | Main region | Typical target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armed robbery | Ship’s stores, engine spares, crew cash and phones | Singapore Strait, Indonesia, South American anchorages | Any ship at anchor or slow in transit |
| Kidnap for ransom | Selected crew members, held ashore | Gulf of Guinea | Tankers, bulk carriers, offshore vessels |
| Hijack for ransom | The whole ship and crew | Somalia and the Indian Ocean | Bulk carriers, tankers, fishing dhows |
| Cargo theft | Fuel or oil cargo pumped to another tanker | Gulf of Guinea, Southeast Asia | Small product tankers |
Armed robbery is now by far the most common. In 2025, the Singapore Strait alone accounted for 80 of the 137 incidents, mostly night-time boardings to steal stores and spares.
How Do Modern Pirates Attack a Ship?
Most attacks follow the same sequence: pick a slow, low ship, approach fast in a skiff, board with a ladder or hook, then take control. A boarding often takes under 15 minutes from first sighting.
- Targeting: pirates watch anchorages and choke points, or use AIS and tips from corrupt insiders to pick a ship.
- Approach: one or two skiffs close in fast, often at night or from the stern, out of radar clutter.
- Boarding: a long hooked ladder or grappling hook is thrown over the lowest point of the hull, usually the stern or main deck.
- Control: armed pirates head for the bridge or engine room, or simply raid stores and cabins.
- Exit: robbers leave the same way; kidnappers take crew ashore; hijackers sail the ship to an anchorage.
Deception is common. Pirate skiffs may pose as fishermen, and in Somalia larger “mother ships”, often hijacked dhows or fishing vessels, carry skiffs far out to sea.
What Boats and Weapons Do Modern Pirates Use?
Pirates mostly use open fiberglass skiffs with one or two outboard engines, capable of 25 knots or more. Weapons range from knives and machetes for robbers to AK-type rifles and rocket-propelled grenades for Somali and Gulf of Guinea gangs.
Robbers in the Singapore Strait usually carry knives, though IMB reports of guns there rose from 8 in 2024 to 27 in 2025.
Why Do Pirates Target Merchant Ships?
Pirates target merchant ships because they are valuable, slow and lightly crewed. A loaded bulk carrier or tanker may carry 20 or fewer seafarers and sail at 12 to 14 knots, which a skiff can easily catch.
- Low freeboard: a deep-loaded ship may sit only a few meters above the water, within reach of a ladder.
- Low speed: ships below about 18 knots are considered more vulnerable in high-risk areas.
- Small crews: modern ships have few people to keep watch and secure entry points.
- Predictable routes: ships pass the same choke points and wait at the same anchorages.
- Valuable cargo and fuel: oil can be sold on the black market, and crews and ships can be ransomed.
How many people modern ships carry is explained in ship crew numbers. The main choke points are described in major shipping routes.
How Did Somali Piracy Work?
Somali piracy was run like a business, with investors, attack teams, guards and negotiators. At its peak in 2010 and 2011, pirates held dozens of ships at once. Ransoms reached millions of dollars per ship.
Gangs operated from coastal towns, using mother ships to reach far into the Indian Ocean. Hostages were held on board at anchor for months while negotiators, often based abroad, dealt with owners and insurers.
Naval patrols, armed guards and industry best practices ended the wave by 2013. It returned briefly in late 2023 and 2024, when pirates hijacked the bulk carriers Ruen and Abdullah. The Indian Navy freed Ruen in March 2024, and Abdullah was released in April 2024.
How Do Gulf of Guinea Pirates Operate?
Gulf of Guinea pirates mainly kidnap crew for ransom. Gangs from the Niger Delta board ships far offshore and take a few crew members, often officers. They hold them in camps ashore until a ransom is paid.
In 2025 the IMB recorded 21 incidents in the region and 23 crew kidnapped in four attacks. Fuel theft, known as “petro-piracy”, also continues, with small tankers hijacked so their cargo can be pumped into another vessel.
How Do Ships Defend Against Modern Pirates?
Ships defend themselves with the industry’s Best Management Practices: making the ship hard to board and planning for pirates getting on board. Security planning sits within the ship’s ISPS Code plan, overseen by the ship security officer.
In 2025 the industry replaced BMP5, Global BMP and BMP West Africa with a single guide, BMP Maritime Security (BMP MS). It covers piracy, armed robbery and other threats in one publication.
| Measure | What it does |
|---|---|
| Voyage risk assessment | Checks the latest threat reports and plans speed, route and timing |
| Registration and reporting | Registers the ship with naval reporting centres in high-risk areas |
| Extra lookouts and lighting | Spots skiffs early and removes cover for night boardings |
| Razor wire and fire hoses | Make the main deck and stern hard to climb |
| Speed and maneuvering | Full speed and wide turns make boarding from a skiff difficult |
| Citadel | A strong room where crew shelter, with water, communications and engine control |
| Armed guards | Privately contracted armed security personnel, where the flag State allows |
The citadel is the last line of defence. Navies are far more likely to intervene once all crew are confirmed inside. Pirates also cannot sail a ship whose engine was stopped from within.
Armed guards are hired by the shipowner from private security companies and must be allowed by the ship’s flag State. It is widely reported that no ship with armed guards on board has been hijacked by Somali pirates.
What Happens to Modern Pirates When They Are Caught?
Under UNCLOS Article 105, any State may seize a pirate ship on the high seas and try the pirates. In practice, many suspects are released because no country will prosecute.
Kenya, the Seychelles and Mauritius have tried Somali pirates under transfer agreements with naval forces. Attacks inside a country’s territorial sea are armed robbery, not piracy, and only that coastal State can prosecute.
Is Cybercrime the New Piracy?
Cyberattacks are sometimes called digital piracy, but they are a different threat. The 2017 NotPetya attack shut down Maersk’s systems worldwide and cost the company an estimated 250 to 300 million dollars, without anyone boarding a ship.
Ships now face rules on cyber risk alongside physical security. IMO requires cyber risks to be covered in the safety management system. The US applies a separate cybersecurity rule under the Maritime Transportation Security Act.
Satellite, GMDSS and ECDIS systems are the main targets.
Related Topics
Frequently Asked Questions
What do modern day pirates do?
They rob ships at anchor, kidnap crew for ransom, hijack ships for ransom or steal fuel cargo, depending on the region.
What do modern pirates look like?
Small armed groups in fast skiffs, wearing ordinary clothes and carrying rifles, knives and long hooked ladders.
What boats do modern pirates use?
Open fiberglass skiffs with outboard engines, sometimes launched from a larger mother ship such as a hijacked dhow.
Where are modern pirates most active?
The Singapore Strait has the most incidents, mostly robbery. Kidnappings happen in the Gulf of Guinea and hijackings off Somalia.
How do ships protect themselves from pirates?
With BMP Maritime Security measures: extra lookouts, razor wire, speed, a citadel for the crew and, where allowed, armed guards.
Do pirates still hijack ships?
Rarely. The IMB recorded four hijackings worldwide in 2025, compared with dozens a year at the height of Somali piracy.
What happens to pirates when they are caught?
Any State may arrest and try pirates on the high seas under UNCLOS, but many are released for lack of a willing court.
Is piracy the same as armed robbery at sea?
No. Piracy happens on the high seas or in an EEZ. The same attack inside territorial waters is armed robbery against ships.
- What Is the ISPS Code? Security Levels, Plans and the ISSC – October 8, 2026
- What Is the Load Line Convention? Freeboard and Marks Guide – October 8, 2026
- What Is the MLC 2006? Maritime Labour Convention Explained – October 8, 2026
