In its weekly report for 1-7 June, ReCAAP ISC informed of two incidents of armed robbery against ships in Asia, both to ships while underway in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the Singapore Strait.
The incidents (one CAT 3 and one CAT 4) occurred on 2 and 5 June and were in close proximity to each other, in the northwest of Tanjung Pergam, Pulau Bintan, Indonesia. In the incident on 2 June, the perpetrators armed with knives were sighted in the steering gear room. The ship alarm was raised and the perpetrators escaped empty-handed. In the incident on 5 June, the perpetrators were sighted in the engine room. The alarm was raised, and the perpetrators escaped with some engine spares.
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With these two incidents, a total of 17 incidents had occurred in the Singapore Strait since January 2021. The ReCAAP ISC is concerned with the continued occurrence of incidents in the SS and had issued three Incident Alerts since January 2021 to alert the shipping community of the recurring incidents in the region.
Incident #1
The first incident involved the Liberia-flagged bulk carrier ‘New Leonidas’, while approximately 7.4nm north west of Tanjung Pergam, Bintan Island, Indonesia, in eastbound lane of the traffic separation scheme.
While underway shortly after midnight on 2 June, four perpetrators armed with knives were sighted in the vicinity of the steering gear room. The ship’s alarm was raised and crew mustered. A search onboard was conducted and no further sighting of the four perpetrators.
The master deviated the ship back to Singapore to ensure the safety of crew and ship were being addressed. Upon arrival at the port of Singapore, the Singapore Police Coast Guard boarded the ship and conducted a search onboard. At 1000 hrs, the ship was cleared with no sighting of the perpetrators onboard. The crew was safe and nothing was declared stolen.
The ship had departed from Singapore earlier and was bound for Fuzhou, China. A safety navigational broadcast was initiated. The Republic of Singapore Navy’s (RSN) Maritime Security Task Force (MSTF) and Singapore Police Coast Guard were notified. Information of the incident was shared with the Malaysian and Indonesian authorities.
Incident #2
The second incident involved the Singapore-flagged bulk carrier ‘Cape Lily’, while at Northwest of Tanjung Pergam, Bintan, in the eastbound lane of the Singapore Straits
While underway on 5 June, at 1.30 am, the duty oiler spotted three perpetrators in the engine room and they were heading out to the poop deck. The 2nd Officer activated the ship’s alarms, turned on all the deck lights and conducted a thorough search of the ship.
The three perpetrators were last spotted on the poop deck via CCTV, but they were nowhere to be found during the search by the ship’s crew. Engine spares were stolen. There was no damage to the ship and the crew was not injured.
The Port Operations Control Centre (POCC) issued a navigational safety advisory to warn ships in the vicinity to be more vigilant.
