Somali piracy threatens ships rerouted from Middle East

Nik MartinTuesday May 12, 2026

Somali pirates have turned large dhows into floating bases, extending their reach and giving them a platform from which to target commercial vesselsImage: EU NAVFOR/Handout/dpa/picture alliance

With ships already diverting around Africa to steer clear of conflict zones in the Middle East, piracy off Somalia is surging again. The comeback is adding pressure across global supply chains, driving up insurance bills, lengthening voyages and forcing operators to spend more on security.

For the shipping industry, the past two months have felt like one crisis after another. The Strait of Hormuz has been largely closed to commercial traffic, while the Red Sea has faced the threat of renewed attacks on vessels.

Now, a third front is opening: Somali piracy is re-emerging.

Even before the latest escalation between the United States, Israel and Iran, roughly half of all vessels traveling from Asia and the Gulf to Europe were already avoiding the Red Sea and the Suez Canal because of earlier attacks by Iran-backed Houthi forces.

To escape the danger around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow passage between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, large shipping companies chose the far longer route around southern Africa.

That detour adds two to three weeks and thousands of nautical miles to a voyage, sending ships along Somalia’s coastline — the same stretch of water where Somali pirates once waged a multi-year hijacking campaign that reached its peak in 2011. Since then, isolated attacks have continued to surface.

Piracy makes a troubling return

Now that sea lane is again seeing a sharp rise in attacks, with three ships seized off Somalia and nearby Yemen in just the past three weeks. As of May 8, 2026, the Honour 25 and Eureka oil tankers, along with the cargo vessel Sward, remained in pirate hands.

Analysts say criminal groups in Somalia are exploiting the Iran war to launch new hijackings, while international naval patrols, first deployed in 2008 to confront piracy, have been stretched by the crises in Hormuz and the Red Sea.

Tim Walker, senior researcher for transnational threats and organized crime at South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies, says pirates are sensing fewer barriers along Somalia’s 3,300-kilometer (2,050-mile) coastline, the longest in mainland Africa.

“Some groups, organized by … piracy kingpins, are now looking to seize vessels and hold them for ransom, along with the crew on board — sometimes demanding a high ransom for their safe return,” Walker told DW.

The European Union’s Operation Atalanta, the naval mission responsible for protecting shipping off Somalia, continues to patrol the western Indian Ocean alongside the multinational Combined Task Force 151. But it is not an escort service, and its forces must cover enormous distances.

Well-funded pirates using dhows

Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a maritime data firm, says at least two pirate groups are active, mainly in Puntland State, the semi-autonomous region in northeastern Somalia. By its account, they appear to have substantial resources.

Those groups have seized large traditional dhows — boats normally used for fishing and local commerce — and converted them into mother ships. From there, they can travel farther, stay at sea for weeks and launch attacks against commercial shipping.

“Some of the latest hijackings involved large dhows, which need navigation kits, weapons and boarding equipment,” Troels Burchall Henningsen, assistant professor at Denmark’s Institute for Strategy and War Studies, told DW. “It’s a large operation which requires investment.”

“There are a lot more ships in the area and some aren’t adopting the best security measures,” Walker said, pointing to one tanker headed for Mogadishu that was seized close to the Somali coast, where it was most exposed.

Piracy could raise shipping costs further

Shipping executives warn that a renewed piracy wave could deepen the pressure already created by Middle East tensions. Insurance costs have climbed, fuel expenses can add about a million dollars per voyage, and freight rates have moved sharply higher. Any major increase in hijackings would likely push those figures up again and complicate world trade further.

During the peak of the last piracy crisis in 2011, the annual economic cost of hijackings was estimated at about $7 billion (€5.98 billion), according to the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, a Japanese think tank.

That figure included the cost of naval deployments, rerouting ships, sailing faster — which burns more fuel — along with extra security gear and armed guards aboard vessels.

Ransoms accounted for only a small slice of the total, with the think tank putting the figure at nearly $160 million.

Development funds to Somalia cut

The Iran war may have distracted attention from the region, but changes in Washington’s approach to East Africa may also have helped open the door to the current piracy resurgence.

For years, the United States backed development programs in Somalia, especially in coastal areas, in an effort to reduce poverty and discourage young men from joining pirate gangs.

Under the current Trump administration, however, almost all non-security development assistance has been suspended. Washington has instead shifted its focus to direct counter-terrorism operations against the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

“When you reduce those resources, the intelligence network and maritime patrols don’t have the same capability to work from,” Burchall Henningsen lamented.

Maritime groups are urging shipping companies to stay clear of Somali territorial waters, including ports. They also say putting armed guards on board remains one of the most effective defenses against pirate attacks.

“There has never been a successful hijacking of a ship [off Somalia] with armed guards on board.” Burchall Henningsen added.

Edited by: Tim Rooks