A resurgence of piracy off the coast of Somalia is compounding pressure on global shipping already strained by conflict in the Middle East, with multiple vessels hijacked in recent weeks and industry leaders warning of fresh strain on supply chains. 

The oil tankers Honour 25 and Eureka and the cargo ship Sward were under pirate control as of May 8, in the worst flare-up of hijackings since the Somali piracy crisis peaked in 2011, according to a Deutsche Welle report published at the time. A separate CNN report published Friday cited an advisory by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) that Somali pirates retain control of at least two unnamed oil tankers and a cargo vessel captured in recent weeks. 

The “piracy threat level remains severe” along the Somali coast and basin, UKMTO warned in the advisory. 

The renewed attacks come as roughly half of all vessels traveling between Asia or the Gulf and Europe are bypassing the Red Sea and Suez Canal because of Houthi strikes and the largely shuttered Strait of Hormuz, DW reported. Shipping firms are instead routing around southern Africa, a detour that adds two to three weeks and thousands of nautical miles to each voyage and brings vessels close to Somalia’s 2,050-mile coastline, the longest on the African continent.

Experts told the news outlet that organized crime networks in Somalia are exploiting the Iran war to mount hijackings while international naval patrols, first deployed in 2008, have been stretched thin by other Middle East crises.

“The war in Iran has compelled certain states that would otherwise have been focused on policing Africa’s Western Indian Ocean to prioritize a potential multinational force to open the Straits of Hormuz,” Manu Lekunze, an international relations lecturer at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, told CNN. 

“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,” Tim Walker, a senior researcher for transnational threats and organized crime at South Africa’s Institute for Security Studies, told DW.

Somali lawmaker Mohamed Dini told CNN the surge reflected both opportunism and Somalia’s long-term domestic fragility, and he warned that pirate networks were forging alliances with Yemen’s Houthi forces, who have targeted vessels in the Red Sea in support of Hamas. Somalia has lacked a functioning central government since the early 1990s, a vacuum that has historically allowed piracy to thrive, CNN reported.

The European Union’s Operation Atalanta, the naval mission charged with protecting shipping off Somalia, maintains a steady presence in the western Indian Ocean alongside the multinational Combined Task Force 151, DW said. But Atalanta is not an escort force and is responsible for patrolling vast areas, according to the report. 

The EU Naval Force told CNN it “believes that three pirate action groups are active in the northern part of Somalia,” and that the groups “are resourced with land elements, to provide support, and sea elements.” 

Citing Lloyd’s List Intelligence, DW reported that at least two active pirate groups are operating, primarily based in the semi-autonomous Puntland region of northeastern Somalia, and that they appear to be well-resourced. The pirates have seized large traditional dhows and converted them into mother ships, allowing them to extend their range and remain at sea for weeks before launching attacks on commercial vessels, DW said.

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

The impact of Somali piracy is significant. The previous piracy peak in 2011 caused an estimated $7 billion (€5.98 billion) a year in economic damage, including the cost of military operations, rerouting, faster transit times that burn more fuel, additional security equipment, and onboard guards, according to estimates by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation cited by Deutsche Welle. Only about $160 million of that total was paid out in ransoms, according to the think tank.