Exclusive: AP joins EU naval patrol as piracy rebounds amid regional conflicts

AT SEA IN THE GULF OF ADEN (AP) — In the azure waters of the Gulf of Aden, a container ship plied its way toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a busy chokepoint increasingly threatened by conflict and pirates. Nearby, on a frigate, Spanish special forces readied their weapons.

“Fuego!” ordered the petty officer as four elite soldiers wearing sunglasses, face wraps, and body armor took turns emptying clips of pistols and machine guns at targets showing vulnerable human organs.

This was just an exercise, but the threat of piracy is real. The frigate leads the European Union’s maritime security operation in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali basin. These operators were sharpening their kinetic skills in case they’re ordered to seize vessels taken by pirates.

Piracy is on the rise between the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean as wars in Yemen, the Horn of Africa and Iran destabilize societies surrounding shipping lanes crucial for the global economy. Navy leaders describe an indirect link between the fighting and piracy.

“Instability causes instability. Instability causes illegal activities. Illegal activities cause clans to go to the sea,” Vice Adm. Ignacio Villanueva, commander of the EU's Operation Atalanta, told The Associated Press.

Atalanta, a multilayered anti-piracy marine force first established in 2008, patrols the western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. About 80 kilometers (50 miles) north lies the Bab el-Mandeb , a major artery of the global economy where, in peacetime, around 12% of the world’s trade, including a quarter of all container traffic, moves between Asia and Europe.

Less than 30 kilometers wide, the Bab el-Mandeb has been fiercely fought over by Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen and Houthi rebels backed by Iran. With movement through the Strait of Hormuz severely disrupted, the Bab el-Mandeb has served as an alternate route for oil exports from the Gulf, giving the waterway added importance.

The AP was granted rare access to the Spanish frigate that leads the EU’s Atalanta mission in the region.

More than 200 crewmen and women are deployed on the ESPS Santa Maria, a 40-year-old and 4,000-ton warship bristling with belt-fed heavy-caliber guns, artillery, torpedoes and missiles. A helicopter and a drone regularly launch off the stern flight deck to conduct aerial surveillance and scare off would-be pirates.

Attacks on cargo ships off the east coast of Africa threaten the very way of life in the West, said Cmdr. Fernando María Zumalacarregui Alario, commanding officer of the Santa Maria.

“If it is in danger, if it is threatened, you are not going to have what you need. The prices are going to rise, and our life is going to be much worse,” he told The AP from the bridge.

Since the Houthis first attacked shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb in November 2023 over Israel’s war in Gaza, there have been 79 pirate attacks in the region, with roughly 30 after the outbreak of the Iran war in February, said Portuguese Commodore José Rodrigues Pedra, the commander of the Atalanta mission at sea.

“I am not saying that there is a direct link with this crisis, but what I can say is that crisis creates crisis,” said the commodore from his cabin on the Santa Maria.

From a French military base onshore in Djibouti, the Atalanta mission also operates a surveillance plane that conducts aerial patrols using radar, a sophisticated inbuilt camera system, and navy photographers wielding long lenses.

The information gathered is shared with partner military deployments from other European nations, the United States, South Korea, Japan, India, and regional powers.

Atalanta is one of two EU naval forces in the region. The other one, Operation Aspides, focuses on the Red Sea and has more ships.

After years of declining attacks, Somali piracy is on the rise again, driven by economic malaise, rampant malnutrition , political impasse , and civil strife , analysts say. Around 30% of the population faces critical levels of food insecurity, the U.N. said in February, amid deep cuts to international aid.

Pirates based in the semiautonomous Somali region of Puntland have seized fuel tankers , and a Turkish ship carrying weapons to the Somali government was captured. Off the Yemeni coast, pirates have mounted attacks before taking ships toward Somalia, a new tactic exploiting the chaos in the southern Arabian Peninsula.

The AP has tracked this resurgence in piracy , with six commercial vessels hijacked between April and August this year.

Five were subsequently freed, but the MT Asana, a Tanzanian-flagged tanker captured in July, remained under pirate control in Somali territorial waters as of Operation Atalanta’s Oct. 16 update. The International Maritime Organization said earlier that month that 22 seafarers remained captive on board.

Even when vessels are retaken, hostages face danger. Five crew members died during the September operation to recover the tanker Honour 25, which had been held since April. The IMO said 44 seafarers were freed from that vessel and two other tankers, Eureka and Sibu 1, also known as Seamull.

Many of the attacks have targeted fishing boats, which can be used as floating bases for raids on larger ships. Indian forces freed an Iranian fishing vessel in early November after an operation lasting more than 48 hours, India’s Defense Ministry said.

Piracy in the region first spiked 15 years ago, when Somali attackers took hostages and charged millions in ransom. Anti-piracy efforts largely worked until 2023, but “the conditions have always been there for piracy to reemerge,” said Jakob Larsen, safety and security chief for the giant shipowners association BIMCO.

One factor could be fuel prices, rising sky-high due to the Iran war, compelling people to search for new livelihoods. “Piracy is one such way,” Larsen said.

As Iran and its Houthi allies exert control over the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, piracy offers benefits to both, said Christopher Hockey, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.

“It suits the Houthis, it suits the Iranians to have further disruption of maritime traffic through piracy,” Hockey said. He warned that regional shipping lanes might soon be divided between cargo vessels with costly guards and those without who run the risks of capture at sea.

“No vessel has ever been hijacked with an armed security team on board,” Hockey said. “Those vessels that are saving money — or doing something dodgy — they’re the ones who are going to continue to be targeted.”

Hockey and the other analysts who spoke to the AP say the EU mission helps thwart piracy, but its success is difficult to measure: commanders say would-be pirates usually pull back once they see a drone, plane, helicopter or ship.

Shipping companies are already rerouting vessels, strengthening security and operating with higher costs like insurance, said Mahmoud Shehrah, a former Yemeni diplomat and fellow at the Chatham House think tank. Separately from piracy, he said the Houthis have “significantly expanded their logistical influence across the Horn of Africa.”

The Houthis have approached some companies to offer protection services, said Mohammed al-Basha, founder of the Basha Report risk advisory firm.

“They’re like, ‘OK, so Suez Canal is making six billion a year and, you know, we have a natural, from Allah, canal, the strait. It’s Bab el-Mandeb. And so how do we make money from that?’”

___ Associated Press writer Omar Farouk in Mogadishu, Somalia, contributed to this report.