Due to increased policing, Somalia has registered just one incident this year but pirates in the African country still hold a total of seven captured vessels and ransoms for 113 hostages are still being negotiated.

While Asian attacks tend to be of a less serious nature -- ranging from petty thefts of engine parts to large-scale thefts of valuable cargoes -- the maritime industry says ship owners, faced with increasing costs and lower revenues due to the global financial crisis, have cut the size of crews and in some cases their wages, a situation that leaves the door open to piracy.

"Sometimes it's suspected that these small robberies are even carried out by the crew who sell the supplies to boost their low salaries and later put the blame on pirates," the Hong Kong-based shipper said.