More pirate attacks expected in Singapore Strait this year amid Ukraine war, report says
- Frequency of piracy, sea robberies to rise in rest of 2022 as economic issues bite, according to ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute report
- Attacks in the Singapore Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, have risen significantly since 2019
The Singapore Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, remains the most serious PSR black spots, with the number of attacks there having increased significantly since late 2019, according to report author Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
There were 36 incidents in Southeast Asia in the first six months of 2022, compared to 35 attacks during the same period in 2021 and 47 in 2020, according to piracy information group ReCAAP-ISC.
The 100km Singapore Strait, where more than 100,000 vessels carrying billions of dollars in commodities and goods pass through every year, saw 27 incidents in the first six months of this year, all in Indonesian waters. This was up from 20 in the same period last year.
Between 2019 and 2021, most incidents occurred in the eastern sector of the Traffic Separation Scheme, in Indonesian waters in the Riau Islands including Bintan and Batam, showed ReCAAP-ISC data.
The attacks, most of which were non-violent low-level robberies, were conducted against larger ships – bulk carriers, oil tankers and general cargo ships – by gangs of three to five men, mostly armed with knives.
Data from ReCAAP, the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia, also showed 49 Singapore Strait incidents in 2021, which accounted for 60 per cent of all attacks in Asia. This increased from 34 incidents in the Singapore Strait in 2020.
