ReCAAP: Asian Piracy Incidents Drop to 13-Year Low

Piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia dropped by 52% to only 10 incidents in the first three months of 2019, according to the regional piracy watchdog ReCAAP ISC.

There figure comprises nine actual and one attempted incident reported during January-March 2019, compared to 21 incidents, of that 15 actual and six attempted, recorded in the same period a year earlier. The number of actual incidents has decreased by 40% for the respective periods.

Both the number of total and actual incidents reported in the first quarter of the year “are the lowest among the period of January-March of 13-year (2007-2019),” ReCAAP said.

The nine actual incidents were less severe, with one CAT 3 incident and eight CAT 4 (petty theft). There were no severe incidents such as CAT 1 and CAT 2 during the period. All incidents reported were armed robbery against ships.

“There were improvements at some ports and anchorages during January-March 2019 compared to the same period in 2018. The improvement was most apparent at the ports and anchorages in Indonesia; with three incidents reported in Indonesia during January-March 2019 compared to nine incidents during the same period in 2018,” the report added.

There were also improvements at the ports and anchorages in Bangladesh, India and Vietnam. No incidents were reported at these ports/anchorages, compared to three incidents reported in Bangladesh and two incidents each in India and Vietnam during January-March 2018.

Of concern was the increase in the number of incidents at some anchorages in China and incidents of theft of scrap metal from barges while underway in the Singapore Strait during January-March 2019, ReCAAP concluded.