A total of 10 incidents of armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia in February 2020, the ReCAAP ISC said in its latest monthly piracy report. Of these, four incidents occurred in India alone and another four occurred in the Singapore Strait, making a total of eight incidents in the region within 2020. Overall, the actual incidents in January-February 2020 increased compared to the same period of 2019.
The incidents in February 2020
- A total of 10 incidents of armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia in February 2020. All were actual incidents.
- Of the 10 incidents, four occurred onboard ships when at anchor, and six onboard ships while underway.
- There was no piracy incident.
- There was no report of abduction of crew in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and waters off Eastern Sabah; the region remains a serious concern though.
- ReCAAP ISC worries of the continued occurrence of incidents on board ships while underway in the Singapore Strait:
With four incidents reported in February 2020, a total of eight incidents have been reported in the Singapore Strait since January 2020, all in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS).
- ReCAAP ISC has issued an alert on 9 Feb 20 on two incidents which occurred within an interval of an hour to ships while underway in the Singapore Strait.
- There has also been an increase of incidents in India, with four incidents in February 2020:
With one incident reported in January 2020, a total of five incidents have been reported in India during January-February 2020 compared to five incidents reported in the whole year of 2019
The following graph shows the number of incidents reported each month from February 2019 to February 2020:
On a month-to-month comparison, the numbers of actual incidents in January and February 2020 were at a higher level compared to the monthly number of actual incidents in 2019.
Significance of incidents in February 2020
- Of the 10 actual incidents reported in February 2020, three were CAT 3 incidents and seven were CAT 4 incidents
- No CAT 1 or CAT 2 incident was reported in February 2020
- Of the three CAT 3 incidents
- One incident occurred on board a tug boat anchored at Martabari Anchorage, Bangladesh
- One occurred on board an offshore supply ship anchored at Kakinada Anchorage, India
- And one occurred on board a bulk carrier while underway in the Singapore Strait
- In all three incidents, the perpetrators were armed with knives, and they escaped immediately when they were sighted by the crew
- The crew was not injured in all three incidents
- Of the seven CAT 4 incidents
- Three were reported in the Singapore Strait of which one occurred on board a barge towed by tug boat and two occurred on board bigger ships (bulk carrier and tanker)
- Three incidents occurred on board ships in India (tanker and offshore supply ship at Kakinada Anchorage and oil/ chemical/gas tanker underway off Gujarat)
- One incident onboard a barge towed by tug boat underway in the Kutubdia Channel, Bangladesh.
