ReCAAP ISC reported that a total 14 incidents, including nine actual incidents and five attempted incidents, were reported in Asia during January-March 2018 compared to 27 incidents that were reported during the same period in 2017.
The 14 incidents reported during January and March 2018 are a 48% decrease compared to January-March 2017. Of these incidents,:
- One was an incident of piracy;
- 13 were incidents of armed robbery against ships.
The improvement during this period was caused by a decrease in the number of incidents at ports and anchorages in Bangladesh and Philippines. Namely, there was no actual incident of abduction of crew for ransom in the Sulu-Celebes Sea, and no hijacking of ships for theft of oil cargo during January-March 2018. However, of concern was an attempted incident n the Sulu-Celebes Sea involving the container ship, “Kudos 1″ on 16 February 18.
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Of the nine actual incidents reported during January-March 2018:
- 3 were CAT 3;
- 6 were CAT 4 incident.
In comparison, during January-March 2017, of the 21 actual incidents, three were CAT 1, one was CAT 2, five were CAT 3 and 12 were CAT 4 incidents.
ReCAAP ISC also provided recommendation to ships, which are the following:
- Reroute where possible;
- Exercise enhanced vigilance;
- Conduct risk assessment;
- Adopt piracy counter-measures to mitigate risk;
- Maintain communications with authorities;
- Make timely report (Reporting Centres in Zamboanga, Bongao, Lahad Datu).
See the full report in the PDF herebelow
