THE LATEST global piracy figures should concern Australia and Papua New Guinea not simply because they represent a threat to international shipping, but because behind every incident is a crew of seafarers who have very little control over the routes they are required to sail. The International Maritime Organization’s 2025 annual report records 171 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships, up from 146 in 2024 – an increase of around 17%.
After the recent hijacking of Seamull, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez called for the immediate and unconditional release of more than 90 seafarers being held captive. He warned that shipping challenges were increasing with the resurgence of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, with six vessels now reportedly being held by pirates and armed robbers.
For me, the most important words in that warning are not about vessels. They are about seafarers. We can easily talk about piracy in terms of ships, trade routes, insurance, freight costs and supply-chain disruption, but those ships have people on board. These are men and women who have gone to work and found themselves caught in circumstances over which they have absolutely no control. They do not decide the route, determine whether a vessel transits a high-risk area, or create geopolitical disputes or conflicts, yet it is seafarers who face the missiles, drones, armed attacks and threat of kidnapping.
The longer-term IMO figures tell an interesting story. Piracy does appear to increase during some periods of major economic and political instability, although the relationship is not as simple as saying that economic downturns cause piracy.
Piracy becomes particularly dangerous when economic hardship intersects with weak governance, political instability, poor maritime enforcement and busy shipping routes that provide an opportunity for organised criminal activity.
The IMO's historical figures show global incidents climbing sharply through the late 1990s, around the Asian Financial Crisis, reaching 471 incidents in 2000. A second and even larger wave developed through the Global Financial Crisis and the period of extreme instability off Somalia, with global incidents eventually reaching 544 in 2011, the highest point in the IMO series shown from 1984 to 2025.
What those periods have in common is not recession alone. Piracy becomes particularly dangerous when economic hardship intersects with weak governance, political instability, poor maritime enforcement and busy shipping routes that provide an opportunity for organised criminal activity.
Equally important is what happened after 2011. International cooperation, naval intervention, improved ship security and regional enforcement demonstrated that piracy could be substantially reduced. The lesson is that piracy is not inevitable, but it requires governments and industry to remain engaged.
After falling to 131 incidents globally in 2022, the IMO figures increased to 150 in 2023, 146 in 2024 and 171 in 2025. The increase is also highly concentrated: of the 171 incidents recorded in 2025, 122 occurred in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, compared with 91 the previous year – a 34% increase. West Africa recorded 21 incidents, the Indian Ocean 10, the South China Sea six and East Africa five.
For Australia and Papua New Guinea, the concentration of incidents in our broader region should be particularly relevant. The Straits of Malacca and Singapore are not remote waterways disconnected from us; they are part of the maritime highway linking our ports with Asia, Europe and the rest of the world. Many of the seafarers arriving in Australian and PNG ports will have travelled through, or close to, areas experiencing piracy, armed robbery or geopolitical conflict.
This is where the discussion needs to move beyond maritime security. A vessel can safely complete its transit through a high-risk area and arrive in Australia or PNG apparently without incident, but that does not necessarily mean its crew has been unaffected.
Imagine spending several days sailing through waters where another vessel has recently been attacked. Security levels increase, movement around the vessel may be restricted, watches may change, crew may spend extended periods inside protected areas, and sleep can be disrupted. A crew member may have colleagues or friends serving on a ship that has been attacked. Their family at home may be watching the same news reports and worrying about whether their ship is next.
By the time that seafarer walks through the door of a Mission to Seafarers centre in Melbourne, Fremantle, Port Hedland or Brisbane, we may have no idea what they have experienced during the preceding weeks. That is why shore-based seafarer welfare matters - transport services are not all we do.
In Australia we are extraordinarily dependent upon international shipping, yet most Australians have little interaction with the people who make that trade possible. The same is true in PNG, where shipping is fundamental to trade, resources and connectivity. Our responsibility therefore should not finish when a vessel reaches the port limits.
At the Mission to Seafarers, our role is often very practical: providing transport, Wi-Fi and communications, a safe place away from the ship, assistance with shopping, pastoral care or simply somebody independent who is prepared to sit down and listen. Sometimes what is needed is considerably more serious – assistance following illness, injury, abandonment, a death on board, exploitation or another welfare crisis.
When we talk about protecting the arteries of world trade, we must also remember the people keeping them flowing.
For a seafarer arriving after travelling through a high-risk area, even a few hours ashore can be valuable. That is particularly important in PNG, where seafarers arriving in Port Moresby, Madang and Lae deserve access to the same fundamental welfare support that we seek to provide across Australian ports.
Geography, infrastructure and extremely limited resources can make delivering that support more difficult, not less necessary. Strengthening seafarer welfare in PNG must therefore remain part of the regional conversation. That means supporting local chaplaincy and welfare capacity, developing stronger relationships with ports and industry and ensuring that seafarers calling at PNG ports are not overlooked simply because welfare infrastructure is more difficult to establish.
On 24 August, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that conflicts were “choking arteries of global trade and squeezing the global food system”, while calling for international law to be respected, civilian shipping and seafarers to be protected and attacks on commercial shipping to end. He is right, but when we talk about protecting the arteries of world trade, we must also remember the people keeping them flowing.
A disruption in the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea or another major shipping route might appear in Australia as increased freight costs, delayed cargo or higher prices. For the person standing watch on the bridge of a ship transiting those waters, it can be a threat to their life. That distinction is worth remembering.
Australia and PNG have an economic interest in safe and reliable international shipping. We also have a human responsibility towards the people operating those ships when they arrive on our shores. Ports, shipowners, governments and the wider maritime industry all have a role to play in ensuring appropriate welfare services are available, and the current increase in piracy is a reminder of why those services matter.
Seafarers should never simply be regarded as collateral damage in maintaining global trade. When they reach a port in Australia or PNG, our job is to make sure they know somebody is there for them.
As always, our ask is simple governments, ports, shipowners and industry partners must invest in and actively support seafarer welfare services across Australia and Papua New Guinea, so that every seafarer arriving after a simple or high-risk voyage can find safety, care and practical help ashore.