The number of ship robberies in Asian waters fell by 24% this January-October compared to the same period in 2020.
From January to October this year, some 64 incidents took place while 84 incidents occurred in 2020, due to the decrease of incidents in all the locations, except the Singapore Straights.
According to Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), in October 2021 alone, however, the number of incidents increased with nine actual incidents of armed robbery in ships from four in September.
All the incidents occurred on board ships while underway in the Singapore Strait. In two of these incidents, perpetrators were reported to be armed with guns or knives.
The ReCAAP said the current area of concern in Asian water is the Singapore Strait where there was a significant increase of incidents, by 25%, during the January- October 2021 period.
Some 35 incidents took place in the area in the last 10 months compared to 28 incidents during the same period in 2020.
With two months left for this year, this is already the third-largest number of incidents in the Singapore Strait since 2007. The highest numbers of robbery incidents took place in 2015 and 2014 with 99 and 47 incidents, respectively.
Of the nine actual incidents reported in October 2021, two were category-2 incidents and seven were category-4 incidents.
ReCAAP said of the two CAT 2 incidents, one incident involved perpetrators armed with guns, and the other incident involved perpetrators armed with knives. In the guns-lined incident, the crew was not injured and nothing was stolen from the ship.
However, in the incident involving perpetrators armed with knives, the duty oiler was tied in the engine room workshop, while some engine spares were stolen.
Of the nine incidents in October 2021, four incidents occurred off Nongsa, Batam Island (Indonesia), three incidents off Tanjung Pergam, Bintan Island (Indonesia), one incident off Nipa Island (Indonesia), and one incident off Tanjung Bulat, East Johor Malaysia).
Of the 61 actual incidents reported in Asia during January-October 2021, nine were CAT 2 incidents, 16 were CAT 3 incidents, and 36 were CAT 4 incidents, according to ReCAAP data.
Sharar Nayel
Bangladesh Correspondent
