The Centre for International Law of the National University of Singapore (NUS) organised a conference on Regional Cooperation for the Protection of the Marine Environment. The Conference was conducted to discuss collaborative efforts by existing regional bodies and platforms and also find ways to enhance the state of the marine environment in the region.
Stable Seas published a report focused on piracy attacks daunting around the Sulu and Celebes Seas. The report adopts an overall approach to get an insight on linkages between maritime governance themes and maritime security challenges in the Sulu and Celebes Seas.
Vale informed on February 15, that there was a fire in one of the transfer houses of the belt conveyor system at its distribution centre in Malaysia. Vale anticipate this will result in a 10 to 15 day stop in operations and note that a planned 10 day shutdown for maintenance was already scheduled for this period.
A fire broke out on February 15 in one of the transfer houses of the belt conveyor system at Vale’s distribution centre in Malaysia. As the company informed, operations will have to shut down for a few days, but it expects a reduced impact on shipments. The fire caused material damage only and operations will continue in about 10 to 15 days.
The incident which involved Malaysian vessel ‘Polaris’ and Greece-registered bulk carrier ‘Piraeus’ colliding, caused discussions on the dispute between Malaysia and Singapore concerning their territorial waters. Yet, Malaysian Marine Department director-general Baharin Abdul Hamid, stated that the incident occurred in Malaysian territorial waters and not Singapore.
ReCAAP ISC published its annual report ‘Piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia’, addressing that piracy and armed robbery have experienced a decrease by 25%. Additionally, the number of actual incidents showed a reduction of 31%. To this result, the number of incidents remains at a low level, in comparison to previous years. There was no actual incident of hijacking of ships for oil cargo theft in 2018.
According to local media, in the climate of Brexit discussions that debated between MPs, the Secretary of State for International Trade, Dr Liam Fox, is of the opinion that the port of Southampton could gain many advantages from new trade agreements. According to Dr Fox, after the Brexit, on the 29th of March, UK will immediately begin negotiations with the US, New Zealand, Australia and discussions with countries in the Pacific Rim.
According to ReCAAP ISC, during 25-31 December 2018, one incident of piracy of the Malaysian tug boat,’Magtrans II’ occurred, off Tambisan Island, Sabah, East Malaysia. In addition the report presents information on how the incident took place.
Six crew members sustained injuries at sea during an explosion involving a gas tanker and a pilot boat. The incident took place five nautical miles off Pulau Sialu on December 14 2018. The victims were transported to the Batu Pahat Maritime Zone jetty and then to Sultanah Nora Ismail Hospital.
According to IMB, on December 5, four armed persons approached a tug towing an unladen barge, off Malaysia, and opened fire. As a result, the Master was shot in the leg. He was transferred to the hospital, while the rest of the crew are safe. According to local media, one of the crew members fired around 10 shots from flare guns at the suspects.
