In 2021, 49 accidents occurred in the Singapore Strait, which is considered one of the world’s busiest maritime waterways, compared to 34 in 2020 and 31 in 2019. The 49 instances are the most since 2015, when there were 99.
In 2021, 82 pirate and armed robbery events against ships were recorded in Asia, down 15% from the 97 reported in 2020. The data were published in the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (Recaap) Information Sharing Centre’s annual report on Tuesday (Jan 18).
During a press conference on Tuesday, the centre’s executive director, Masafumi Kuroki, claimed the pandemic may have contributed to the increase in cases in the Singapore Strait. “Covid-19 has deteriorated economic conditions in many regions and that could have led to more people (in coastal communities) resorting to sea robberies,” he said.
Mr Kuroki went on to say that the Singapore Strait is a popular marine path, making it vulnerable to criminals. The east-bound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme was the scene of 43 of the 49 occurrences in the strait, with an increasing cluster of accidents off Tanjung Pergam on Indonesia’s Bintan island.
With the exception of two documented cases of crew members being attacked, the culprits did not hurt the personnel aboard ships in the majority of the occurrences. The majority of the crimes were committed after dark by three to five suspects in tiny boats. They usually went for bulk haulers, stealing engine parts to market in the region.
To address the situation, Mr Kuroki advised that the three coastal states of the strait – Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia – enhance their coordination and surveillance of the area. He went on to say that ship crews should “get up to date on the latest condition, exercise maximum caution, and take preventative actions.”
The Ministry of Defence, the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority, and the Singapore Police Force issued a joint fact sheet on Tuesday stating that vessel passage over the Singapore Strait is safe. “These (sea robberies) are generally small theft incidents, with the majority being opportunistic and non-confrontational.”
They also detailed ongoing measures to address the problem, including joint drills with Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand to better cope with marine events, monitoring Singapore waterways, and issuing frequent notifications to urge vessels to be vigilant.
The decline in piracy and armed robbery charges against ships in numerous nations, including India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, was a good trend in 2021. Piracy, according to the official definition, is an attack in international waterways, whereas armed robbery is an attack within a state’s territorial waters.
At the Manila Anchorage in the Philippines, however, there was an upsurge in the amount of aggression directed at personnel. Four of the nine occurrences recorded there in 2021 featured gun-wielding or knife-wielding attackers who intimidated and bound crew members.
Since the Philippine police apprehended the head and members of a criminal gang between September and November 2021, no similar occurrence has been recorded.
