The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre (ISC) has released its Half Yearly Report 2022 for the period of January to June. The key highlights of the report are as follows:

Overall situation

• No incident of piracy (occurred on high seas) was reported.
• A total of 42 incidents (comprising 40 actual and 2 attempted) of armed robbery against ships (occurred in internal waters, archipelagic waters and territorial seas) were reported in Asia during January to June 2022.
• This represents an 11% increase compared to 38 incidents reported during the same period in 2021.
• The severity level of the actual incidents are as follows:
  • One Category 2 incident (same as in 2021)
  • 10 Category 3 incidents (same as in 2021)
  • 29 Category 4 incidents (25 incidents during same period in 2021)

Increase of incidents

• Singapore Strait (SS) and Bangladesh Anchorages
  • 27 incidents were reported in SS (20 incidents were reported during the period of January to June 2021). The SS remains an area of concern.
• Three incidents were reported at Chattogram Anchorages, Bangladesh (no incident was reported during the same period in 2021).

Areas of improvement

• Anchorages in Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
  • No incidents were reported in Malaysia (one incident was reported during the same period in 2021).
• Three incidents were reported in the Philippines (six incidents were reported for the same period in 2021).
• No incidents were reported in Vietnam (two incidents were reported for the same period in 2021).

Situation in Sulu-Celebes Seas and Waters Off Eastern Sabah

• There was no incident of abduction of crew for ransom in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and waters off Eastern Sabah since the last incident reported on 17 Jan 20. However, the threat of abduction of crew for ransom remains potentially high, particularly in the area of Sulu and nearby waters off Tawi-Tawi as the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) commanders responsible for past incidents of abduction in Sulu are still at large and the presence of remnants of the group in the sea.

 

Source: https://maritimefairtrade.org/42-armed-robberies-against-ships-in-asia-during-first-half-of-2022-says-recaap-isc/