Extracted from:
http://news.asiaone.com.sg/st/st_20070706_136253.html Malacca and S'pore straits safer, but more attacks seen in surrounding ports
WHILE strong security measures continued to snuff out pirates in the Malacca and Singapore straits in the first half of the year, there were eight incidents in surrounding ports and waters, up from five for the same period last year.
Figures released yesterday by the ReCAAP's Information Sharing Centre (ISC) also show there were two incidents in the straits' sea lanes from January to June this year, down from three for the same period last year and six for the corresponding period for 2005.
ReCAAP is the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships in Asia. Its members are the 10 Asean countries plus China, South Korea, Japan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
It came into being in the middle of last year.
ReCAAP's ISC executive director Yoshiaki Ito said the drop in incidents was due to enhanced security moves by the littoral states but cautioned that these had to be sustained and the trend monitored.
He was speaking at a press conference at the end of a special meeting of the ReCAAP ISC governing council here yesterday.
Among other things, ReCAAP's ISC publishes regular reports on piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia.
Overall, incidents in Asia declined by about half from 79 in the first half of last year to 43 in the first six months of this year.
But against this upbeat backdrop, it also emerged that tankers were more frequently targeted compared to bulk carriers, which topped the types of carriers targeted for the corresponding period in the last two years.
Almost one out of every two incidents that occurred during the first six months of this year involved tankers.
Of the 20 incidents involving such vessels, 15 occurred at anchorages.
A tanker carries items like crude oil while bulk carriers carry cargo loads.
Both are slow moving but tankers do not have many crew members on board, making them more vulnerable.
ReCAAP believes the figures show a correlation between the type of vessel targeted and the nature of port facilities where the incident took place, said ISC assistant director of research Lee Yin Mui, in presenting the data yesterday.
She cited, among other cases, an attack that occurred in March this year on a tanker some 30 nautical miles east of the Indonesian island of Bintan.
It was intercepted by 10 robbers in two speedboats who took control of the vessel and ordered the captain to steer south-west.
When the engines subsequently stalled, the robbers abandoned the vessel, taking with them several items including cash and mobile phones.
The crew members then managed to free themselves and headed for Singapore.
Analysing such case studies in detail has helped the ISC establish possible trends.
The new incidence of attacks on tankers needs to be studied further, said Ms Lee.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Maybe the oil tankers shld have their own small arms to combat the pirates??
Piracy attacks down in Asia, but tankers targeted more often 
Re: Piracy attacks down in Asia, but tankers targeted more often 
Linear Mode
