Situation of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia in January 2020

ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre today released the January 2020 Report on the situation of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia.

Overview
•  A total of 11 incidents of armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia in January 2020
•  No piracy incident was reported
•  There was one incident of abduction of crew that occurred off Pulau Tambisan, Lahad Datu, Sabah, East Malaysia in January 2020
•  ReCAAP ISC is concerned about the continued occurrence of incidents on board ships while underway in the Singapore Strait
•  In January 2020, four incidents were reported in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the Singapore Strait
•  ReCAAP ISC has issued two Incident Alerts in January 2020; one on the abduction of crew from fishing trawler SSK 00543 on 17 Jan 20, and the other on incidents occurred to ships while underway in the eastbound lane of the TSS in the Singapore Strait on 18 and 19 Jan 20
Number of Incidents
•  In January 2020, 11 incidents of armed robbery against ships were reported
•  All 11 incidents were actual incidents
•  No attempted incident was reported
•  All incidents have been verified and reported to the ReCAAP ISC by ReCAAP Focal Points
Status of Ships
•  Of the 11 incidents reported in January 2020, six incidents occurred on board ships when at anchor, and five incidents on board ships while underway
Significance Level of Incidents
•  Of the 11 actual incidents reported in January 2020, one was a CAT 1 incident, one was a CAT 3 incident and nine were CAT 4 incidents
• The CAT 1 incident was the abduction of eight crew from a fishing trawler on 17 Jan 20 off Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia
o   On 18 Jan 20, the Malaysian authorities recovered three of the eight crew in the vicinity of Lahad Datu, Sabah
o   The remaining five crew are still held in captivity
•  The CAT 3 incident occurred on board a tanker anchored off Port Kabil, Pulau Batam, Indonesia
o   The crew confronted the perpetrators who were armed with sharp weapons and captured one of them
o   The other three perpetrators escaped empty-handed
o   One of the crew suffered facial injury
o   The master reported the incident to Batam Police, who boarded the ship and took custody of the captured perpetrator
•  Of the nine CAT 4 incidents, four were reported in the Singapore Strait, of which two occurred on board barges towed by tug boats and two occurred on board bigger ships (bulk carrier and tanker)
•   Among the remaining five CAT 4 incidents, two incidents occurred on board container ships anchored at Manila Anchorage, Philippines; two incidents occurred on board ships at Indonesia anchorages (bulk carrier at Taboneo anchorage and chemical/oil product tanker at Belawan anchorage); and one incident occurred on board an offshore supply vessel anchored at Alang Anchorage, India