Security and enforcement has been so good that there has been only one reported case of piracy or robbery in the waters between Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatera, according to the latest monthly report by the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre.
This is a complete turnaround from the situation last year when the number of cases of piracy or robbery along one of the world’s busiest trade routes, had more than doubled to 104 from 48 the year before (2014), according to statistics.
Corresponding to the data for the strait, where almost half the world’s total seaborne trade passes through each year. only 77 incidents of piracy or robbery were reported for the whole of Asia in the first 11 months of this year.
According to the Singapore daily, that constitutes a 60% drop from last year’s 193 cases.
ReCAAP’s November report, which was released earlier this month, stated that this was a five-year low for the continent.
“The situation of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia has witnessed continuous improvement,” ReCAAP said, adding that there was not a single incident involving the hijacking of tankers for theft of oil last month.
“Oil siphoning from vessels had been, until recently, a major issue particularly in the Strait of Malacca,” Dr Collin Koh, research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ maritime security programme, told ST.
He added that the main reason for the plunge in attacks on oil tankers is that both Malaysia and Indonesia have set up special taskforces to tackle such piracy in the Malacca Strait.
“Nowadays we see better coordination and cooperation among the littoral states,” ST quoted him as saying, adding that the maritime industry has also adopted security measures.
However, the ReCAAP report did highlight a spike in the number of cases of crew kidnappings in the Sulu-Celebes Sea, off eastern Sabah, as a major concern.
Just last month, on Nov 11, 10 armed pirates boarded a Vietnam-registered bulk carrier, abducting six crew members, ReCAAP reported. It noted the incident as being the ninth case since March, adding that there were four failed attempts last month, ST reported.
ReCAAP considers the situation in the Sulu-Celebes Sea “alarming”, the report said, adding that increased patrols are needed to tackle the problem of crew abduction.