PIRATE attacks increased by nearly 40 per cent last year as political turmoil in Asia and Africa left some of the world's busiest shipping lanes prey to the centuries-old menace of armed boarders.

The number of raids and attempted raids on yachts and ships worldwide increased to 258 from 202 in 1998, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in its annual report yesterday.

Jayant Abhyankar, the deputy director of the IMB, said the report "highlights that modern piracy is violent, bloody and ruthless".

"It is made all the more fearsome because its victims know they are alone and defenceless," he said.

The report said pirates carried guns on 53 occasions and knives were used twice as often as in 1998.

On a more positive note, the number of deaths dropped from 78 in 1998 to three last year, a development linked by some shippers to China's decision to face up to piracy off its south-east coast. South China's corrupt port authorities and security forces had long been accused of collusion with pirates and hijackers.

Last month, a court in south China sentenced 13 pirates to death for the murder of 23 crew aboard a Hong Kong registered freighter in 1998. Their leader, an Indonesian, was reported to have forced each of his men to take part in beating the crew of the MV Cheung Son to death. Only six sailors were found, when their bodies were washed up in fishermen's nets, weighted with iron bars.

Before the Second World War, the pirates of the South China Sea still had a romantic but murderous image, preying on steamers and local craft in armour-plated wooden junks, armed with ancient cannon.

A typical attack now involves a least 10 men in a speedboat, following a freighter. In extreme cases they will hijack a ship for its cargo but the target is often the captain's safe, which may contain up to pounds 30,000 for buying supplies, or paying port fees and crew overtime.

Desperation brought on by the Asian economic crisis has also led to ships at anchor being attacked by robbers - some of them former fishermen - for items as small as mooring ropes or ships' stores. "Pirates will go on board for a pot of paint, which they can sell for maybe $60 - that's a lot of money in their country," said Noel Choong, regional manager of the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur. "To the crew, it does not matter if the robber is after one dollar, or $10,000. He still has a knife, or a gun, and he will not hesitate to use it to escape."

If they are followed, freighters are told to sail at full speed and radio for help. High politics can block that help. Parts of the South China Sea are claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines, making joint patrols a diplomatic nightmare.

Merchant shipping has been transformed into a high-technology business comparable to the airline industry. But it is a different story after dark in pirate "hot-spots" such as the Malacca Straits or the South China Sea.

"Although more attacks are reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur now than previously, there can be no doubt that attacks have increased substantially, indicating that piratical activity still flourishes in certain areas," the report said.