The ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC) has released its Half Yearly Report 2024 for the period of January to June.
A total of 51 incidents, comprising of one incident of piracy and 50 incidents of Armed Robbery Against Ships (ARAS), were reported in Asia during January-June 2024. Among the 51 incidents, 44 were actual incidents and seven were attempted incidents. There was a 16% decrease in the number of incidents during January-June 2024 compared to 61 incidents (all actual incidents) reported during January-June 2023.

Incidents of January-June 2024 Vs January-June 2023
The total number of incidents reported during January-June 2024 has decreased compared to January-June 2023 occurred in India, the Philippines, SOMS, Thailand and Vietnam.

However, the other locations that witnessed an increase of incidents during January-June 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 were Bangladesh, Indonesia and South China Sea (SCS).
The observations are as follows:
- More than half of the incidents reported groups of 1-6 perpetrators (60%). There were three incidents involving larger groups of perpetrators, between eight and 10 men (30%).
- Two of the 10 incidents involved perpetrators who carried knives but the crew was not injured in both incidents (20%). Seven of the remaining eight incidents had no information if the perpetrators were armed (70%), and one incident reported that the perpetrators were not armed (10%).
- Half of the incidents reported that the perpetrators did not harm the crew (50%). There were two incidents where perpetrators tied the crew, carried out the theft and escaped (20%). The perpetrators did not harm the crew, and most likely tied the crew to restrict their movement and prevent them from alerting other crew members.
- Ship stores such as heaving and messenger lines, paint, brass fire hydrant caps, fire hoses and mooring ropes were reported stolen in more than half of the incidents (60%). Nothing was stolen in the other four incidents (40%).
- A variety of ships including tankers (40%), container ships (30%), bulk carriers (20%) and general cargo ships (10%) were boarded. The perpetrators in all probability were not targeting specific type of ships, but rather ships that were lax in security.
- Majority of the incidents (90%) occurred during hours of darkness. The incident during daylight hours occurred onboard a container ship while she was anchored at Chittagong Inner Anchorage (10%).
Areas of Concern
There were three areas of concern of the situation of piracy and ARAS incidents in Asia during January-June 2024:
- SOMS – Continued occurrence of incidents: A total of 21 incidents were reported in SOMS during January-June 2024. This constitutes 41% of
the total number of incidents in Asia (21 of 51). However, compared to the same period of 2023 (41 incidents), there has been a significant improvement of the situation in SOMS. - Bangladesh – Increase of incidents: A total of 10 incidents were reported in Bangladesh during January-June 2024. This represents
a significant increase in the number of incidents reported in the area compared to January-June 2023 (one incident). - Sulu-Celebes Seas – Threat of abduction of crew for ransom remains: The situation on abduction of crew for ransom in the Sulu-Celebes Seas continued to improve during January-June 2024. No such incident was reported during this period, and the last abduction of crew incident in the area occurred in January 2020. However, the threat of abduction of crew for ransom continues to remain due to the presence of remnants of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the Sulu and Tawi Tawi area.
Status of ships
Of the 51 incidents reported during January-June 2024, 29 incidents (57%) occurred to ships while at anchor/berth and 22 incidents (43%) occurred to ships while underway.
The incidents onboard ships while they were anchored/berthed occurred at ports and anchorages of Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
