In total, 16 incidents reported during last month
TheReCAAP Information Sharing Centre has issued piracy report for October 2013. During this month, a total of 16 incidents reported, comprimising of 15 actual incidents and one attempted incident.
Of these incident occured during last month, two were piracy incidentsand the remaining were robberies against ships. The twopiracy incidents occurred in the South China Seainvolving product tanker, Danai 4 on 10 Oct 13,and product tanker Danai 5 on 27 Oct 13.
Danai4 was boarded by pirates who took her awayto offload the Marine Gas Oil (MGO) she wascarrying. Details of the incident are shared as acase study in the report (please see below). In the case of Danai 5,the pirates failed to board the tanker when thecrew noticed two speed boats approaching thetanker and raised the alarm, and the masterincreased speed and changed direction. Thealertness of the crew has resulted in the piratesaborted their attempt to board Danai 5.
ReCAAP notices that while the number of incidents reported in October 2013 had increased compared to October 2012, majority of the incidents in October 2013 were petty theft incidents. The number of Category 2 incidents reported in October 2013 had decreased compared to the same period 2010- 2012, while the number of Category 3 incidents had remained fairly consistent throughout the five-year reporting period.
ReCAAP concludes that as in the case of Danai 4, the time lapse inreporting the loss of communication has madeit more challenging to locate the missing vesseland given sufficient time for the pirates to sailthe tanker to an area to siphon off the MGO.
In view of the situation in the Straits of Malaccaand Singapore, the ReCAAP ISC recommendsowners of tug boats and barges to considerstrengthening security measures on theirbarges.The ReCAAP ISC urges shipping companiesto report all incidents and suspicious activityconcerning its vessels to the relevant authoritiespromptly |
Find more details, by reading ReCAAP ISC Report for October 2013
Please refer to the Tug Boat andBarge (TaB) guide for suggestions on specificsecurity measures to adopt onboard barges