Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships in Asia
The overall situation of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia during the first halfof 2013 has improved. A total of 57 incidents comprising 54 actual incidents and threeattempted incidents, were reported during the period of January-June 2013 compared to64 incidents reported during the same period in 2012.
The overall severity of incidents reported during January-June 2013 has also decreased. Ofthe 57 incidents, 13 were Category 2 (moderately significant) incidents, 20 were Category 3(less significant) incidents, 21 were petty theft incidents and three were attempted incidents.There was no Category 1 incident reported during January-June 2013. Notably, the number ofCategory 2 incidents was the lowest during January-June 2013 among the five-year reportingperiod.
However, there had been an increase in the number of Category 3 incidents, while thenumber of petty theft incidents had decreased in January-June 2013.The improvement during January-June 2013 compared to the same period in 2012 occurredin Bangladesh, India and the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. However, there had been anupward trend in the number of incidents, mostly Category 3 incidents reported at some portsand anchorages in Indonesia.Majority of the incidents occurred during January-June 2013 involved robbers in groups ofone to three men.
Of the 54 actual incidents, 23 (or 43%) incidents involved robbers armedwith knives and 36 (or 67%) incidents resulted in the loss of engine spares and stores. Aboutthree-quarter of the incidents reported that the crew was not injured while some cases (14 of54) reported that the crew was threatened, assaulted and held hostage (tied up) before therobbers escaped with the crew’s cash and personal belongings.
For more information, please read ReCAAP ICS Half-yearly Report (January-June 2013) here
