The Regional Co-operation Agreement for Combating Armed Robbery and Piracy (ReCAPP) has released its annual review on piracy in Asia.
Whilst the number of incidents reported increased 13% from 2012, the severity of these has greatly decreased.
Out of the 150 incidents reported, only 11 were considered to be true acts of piracy. 139 were incidents of armed robbery against ships which primarily occurred at ports and anchorages. The final 9 attempts were prevented.
Incidents concerning ships at anchor accounted for 80% of the total incidents reported. More than 50% of these occurred at ports in Indonesia and were mostly category 3 or petty incidents.
Only two of the 150 incidents were considered Category 1 on scale of severity. Both involved the hijacking of tankers – the Danai 4 and the GPT 21.
Both were hijacked to siphon stores of the Marine Gas Oil (MGO) carried on board each vessel.
In total, petty theft or category 3 incidents accounted for 77% of the incidents reported in 2013.
Of the incidents reported that involved losses being reported, 42% concerned loss of ship stores, whilst 15% concerned loss of personal property.
In total the incidents reported in 2013 were considered less violent.
ReCAPP stated that: ‘incidents involving crew being assaulted, held hostage or being threatened were less frequent in 2013 compared to previous years.”
This includes a decline on the number and severity of incidents involving tug boats and barges, whilst there was not a single report of a tug boat being hijacked for the first time in five years.
