The heavy ocean traffic (and its cargo) spawned a surge in sea piracy and a new breed of pirates, the bloodiest the world has seen. More than 2,400 acts of piracy were reported around the world between 2000 and 2006, roughly twice the number reported for the preceding six-year period. Although pirate attacks have at least tripled during that time period, the actual number of attacks remains unclear.

And nearly every group of government monitoring sea piracy believes that number is seriously undercounted. The Australian government estimates the actual number of piracy attacks is 2,000% higher. Piracy is estimated to cost between and billion every year and could cost substantially more in coming years.

繁忙的海上交通(以及海运的货物)孕育了新一轮海盗狂潮。他们是世界所见过的最血腥的海盗。在2000年至2006年间，有报告的海盗行为超过2400起，大致是前6年的两倍。在那段时间里，尽管海盗攻击翻了三番，但是确切的攻击次数仍然不明确。

几乎每个监视海盗的政府小组都认为那些数字远远低于实际数字。澳大利亚政府估计，实际的海盗攻击次数要高出2000%。据估计，海盗行为每年造成的损失在130到160亿美元之间，并在未来几年中会造成更大的损失。