For the first time since January 2015, there were no cases of siphoning of ship fuel/oil reported, Asian piracy watchdog ReCAAP ICS said in its monthly report for July.
According to the report, a total of 10 incidents of armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia in July 2015. Of these, eight were actual incidents and two were attempted incidents. No piracy incident was reported.
As a result, the number of incidents reported in July 2015 has decreased by 41% and 38% compared to July 2013 and July 2014 respectively.
During January-June 2015, a total of 11 such incidents had been reported.
“The recent arrest of eight perpetrators involved in the hijacking and siphoning of fuel from Orkim Harmony in the South China Sea on 11 Jun 15 could be the reason for no such incident reported in July 2015; probably a result of the perpetrators/syndicate operating in that area chose to lie low for a period of time, amidst heightened precautionary measures being taken by ship owners / masters and some other counter-piracy measures taken by the relevant authorities,” ReCAAP ICS said.
Of the 10 incidents reported in July 2015, five incidents occurred on board ships while underway in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS), two onboard ships while anchored at Vietnam ports/anchorages (Ho Chi Minh, Vung Tau), one onboard ship anchored at Kandla anchorage, India; one onboard a barge towed by a supply vessel off the coast of Tanjung Kelasa, Malaysia; and one onboard ship anchored off Pulau Batam.
However, ReCAAP warned that although there was no siphoning of fuel/oil incident reported in July 2015, there is no room for complacency.
“While the situation in SOMS has shown slight improvements compared to past months, the ReCAAP ISC encourages the littoral States to step up surveillance in certain parts of SOMS.
“In addition, ship masters and crew transiting the area are advised to exercise enhanced vigilance and deploy extra watch keepers and look-outs noting that most of the perpetrators operating there were mostly opportunistic in nature and escaped immediately when they were detected by the crew. Though a larger percentage of the incidents are deemed to be “petty theft” in nature, more needs to be done to prevent further escalation of such incidents, whether in terms of number or severity level,” ReCAAP wnt on to say.