Situation Update of

Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships

in Asia
26 April 2012
Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Scope
Methodology adopted in classification of
incidents
Situation update
Analysis by location
Case studies
Conclusion

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Classification of Incidents
Formulate a matrix based on relevance of factors and impact towards overall
significance of an incident
Indicators of the two factors:
Violence Factor (V-factor)
; Type of weapon
; Treatment of crew
; Number of pirates/robbers

Economic Factor (E-factor)

; Type of item stolen

Overall significance level

Broadly, the 4 Categories encompass:
; CAT 1: kidnapping, hijacking, death/missing of crew
; CAT 2: pirates/robbers were armed, crew was threatened/assaulted, cash
taken
; CAT 3: pirates/robbers armed with knives, mostly used to cut and remove
items onboard ships
; Petty theft: not armed and crew not harmed

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Situation Update

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Situation Update (Jan

-Mar of 2008
-2012)
(Jan-Mar
2008-2012)
Improvement in Jan-Mar 2012
compared to Jan-Mar 2011, but still
higher than 2008-2010
Attempted incidents (10 3)
Actual incidents (38 35)
Relatively less violence compared
to past four years
No incident of piracy
No CAT 1 incident
CAT 2 and Petty Theft stable for
past two years (Jan-Mar of 20112012)
CAT 3 stable for past three years
(Jan-Mar of 2010-2012)
Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Patterns and Trends (Jan

-Mar 2012)
(Jan-Mar
Vessels underway
Improvement in the South China
Sea and Straits of Malacca &
Singapore

Vessels at anchor/berth
Increase in the number of
incidents at ports and anchorages
in Indonesia
; Half of total number of
incidents occurred in Indonesia
Improvement at ports and
anchorages in Malaysia

No CAT 1 Incident reported

during this quarter

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Analysis by location

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Straits of Malacca and Singapore

(Jan-Mar of 2008-2012)
Improvement during Jan-Mar 2012
compared to same period in 2011
10 4

All 4 incidents involved tug boats

Improvement occurred in the
Phillip Channel and off Pulau
Karimun region
Possible reasons:

0
0

+
X

4
4

CAT 3
0
0
0

CAT 2
0
1
0

1
0

Petty Theft
0
0
0

Jan-Mar 2011 (10)

Jan-Mar 2012 (4)

CAT 1
0
1
0

4
0

Attempted
2
0
1

Legend
Jan-Mar 2008 (2)
Jan-Mar 2009 (2)
Jan-Mar 2010 (1)

1
0

Increase in surveillance and joint

coordinated patrols by the littoral
States
Better situation awareness among
seafarers and authorities
Sharing of anti-piracy guidelines
with tug boat and barge owners

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Malaysia (Jan-Mar of 2008-2012)

1
0

+
X

5
0

CAT 3
0
0
3

CAT 2
0
0
0

0
1

Petty Theft
1
1
0

Jan-Mar 2011 (7)

Jan-Mar 2012 (1)

CAT 1
0
0
1

1
0

Attempted
0
0
0

Legend
Jan-Mar 2008 (1)
Jan-Mar 2009 (1)
Jan-Mar 2010 (4)

0
0

Improvement during Jan-Mar

compared to same period in 2011

2012

71

Improvement off Tanjung Ayam

Pulau Tioman

No incidents compared to four incidents

during Jan-Mar 2011

Possible reasons:

Malaysia

Increase in surveillance and enhanced

presence of Malaysian authorities
Deterrence effects due to successful
apprehension of robbers/recovery of
hijacked vessel by MMEA:
X+XXX

Front Queen (9 Mar 11)

Sky Jupiter (19 Sep 11)

Nautical Johor Bahru (27 Oct 11)

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

South China Sea (Jan-Mar of 2008-2012)

0
0

CAT 3
0
0
0

CAT 2
0
1
1

1
0

Vietnam

0
0

Petty Theft
0
0
0

Jan-Mar 2011 (6)

Jan-Mar 2012 (0)

CAT 1
0
0
0

0
0

Attempted
1
0
0

Legend
Jan-Mar 2008 (1)
Jan-Mar 2009 (1)
Jan-Mar 2010 (1)

5
0

Improvement during Jan-Mar

2012 compared to same period
in 2011
60

Improvement in situation off

Pulau Anambas
No incident in 2012 compared
to three in 2011

Malaysia

Pulau
Anambas

Possible reasons:

Pulau
Natuna

Increase
in
patrol
and
surveillance by littoral States

X
X

Su
ma
tr

+
X

Better situation awareness

among seafarers and authorities

Kalimantan

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Indonesia (Jan-Mar of 2008-2012)

Highest number of incidents
during
Jan-Mar
2012
compared to same period in
past four years
4 1 9 6 17

Majority are CAT 3 and petty

theft incidents
Increase in significance level
of incidents
Four CAT 2 incidents reported
during
Jan-Mar
2012
compared to only one CAT 2
incident reported for past four
years
Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Case Study
Recovery of Hijacked vessels:
Tug boat, Sin Hin 5
towing barge, Sin Hin 6
28 Dec 2011
Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Hijack of Sin Hin 5 towing Sin Hin 6

On 23 Dec 11, vessels departed Port Klang,
Malaysia for Bintulu, Malaysia
Vessels anchored at Tanjung Ayam on 25
Dec 11 due to rough sea conditions

23 Dec 11 at 1400 hrs

Port Klang

Vessels departed for

Bintulu, Malaysia

MALAYSIA

Vessels departed Tanjung Ayam on 28 Dec

11

28 Dec 11 at 0140 hrs

Vessels departed
Tanjung Ayam

25 Dec 11 at 1800 hrs

Owner tried to contact master on 28 Dec 11

but could not establish communications

Vessels anchored at
Tanjung Ayam

Tanjung
Ayam

Scheduled
Route

Tug boat was observed to be heading

towards Indonesia at about 1800 hrs
On 29 Dec 11 at or about 0700 hrs,
confirmed Sin Hin 5 was along the
Kalimantan Strait

Comms with the master still could not be

established. Last contact on 27 Dec 11

Su
ma
tra

28 Dec 11 at 1800 hrs

Vessels heading
towards Indonesia

Owner reported to ReCAAP ISC that Sin Hin

5 towing barge, Sin Hin 6 was suspected to
have been hijacked
Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Hijack of Sin Hin 5 towing Sin Hin 6

ReCAAP ISC informed the ReCAAP Focal Points,
IFC, BAKORKAMLA, Indonesian Marine Police,
TNI-AL and MMEA
Between 29-30 Dec 11, company continued to
share information with ReCAAP ISC on the
movement of the tug boat

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Hijack of Sin Hin 5 towing Sin Hin 6

On 31 Dec 11, Sin Hin 5 and its crew were found and
rescued by the Indonesian Navy off Pulau Belintung,
Indonesia
On 1 Jan 12, an Indonesian aircraft and three warships
found Sin Hin 6 in the area
Owner recovered the vessels
Vessel was renamed Golden I
Owner attributed the quick recovery of the hijacked
vessels to timely information sharing and operational
cooperation among ReCAAP ISC, Focal Points,
Malaysia, Indonesia and its stakeholders
Owner shared his experience at ReCAAP ISC Nautical
Forum 3/12

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Case Study
Apprehension of robbers and
recovery of stolen items:
OXL Lotus on 22 Jan 2012
Andakini on 22 Mar 2012
Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Incidents at Chittagong Anchorage, Bangladesh

Vessels were
Anchorage

anchored

at

Chittagong

OXL Lotus on 22 Jan 12

Andakini on 22 Mar 12

In both incidents,
Robbers boarded and stole mooring ropes from the
vessels
Master reported incident to Chittagong Port
Authority, who informed the Bangladesh Coast
Guard
Bangladesh Coast Guard deployed one speed boat
to location

Bangladesh Coast Guard apprehended three

robbers and recovered items
Timely reporting by master resulted in
apprehension of robbers and the recovery of
stolen items

nc
h
A ora
ge

Anchora
g

Anadakini
22 Mar 12
0003 hrs

Chittagong

e B

Karnaphuli
River

OXL Lotus
22 Jan 12
2215 hrs

Anchorage C

17

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

Conclusion
Decrease in incidents due to under-reporting, or true reflection of
situation?
Improvement in Malaysia, South China Sea and
Straits of Malacca and Singapore
Littoral States continue enhance surveillance and
maintain presence
Seafarers observe BMPs and maintain situation
awareness
;Published poster on Guidelines for Tug Boats
and Barges

Need for enforcement at ports and anchorages of Indonesia

Timely reporting of incidents to authorities resulted in:
Recovery of hijacked vessels (Sin Hin 5 and Sin Hin 6)
Apprehension of robbers and recovery of stolen items (Andakini and
OXL Lotus)
Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia

http://www.recaap.org

Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia