A total of eight incidents of armed robbery against ships1 were reported in Asia in August 2018. No piracy incident was reported. There was also no report of abduction of crew in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and no hijacking of ships for theft of oil cargo reported in August 2018.

AUGUST 2018

NUMBER OF INCIDENTS

In August 2018, a total of eight incidents (comprising seven actual incidents3 and one attempted incident4) of armed robbery against ships were reported. All incidents have been verified and reported to the ReCAAP ISC by ReCAAP Focal Points, Contact Point and regional authorities. No piracy incident was reported during August 2018. Refer to the Appendix on pages 16-19 for the description of these incidents.

Compared to the preceding month of July 2018, the number of incidents reported in August 2018 has decreased slightly. A total of nine incidents were reported in July 2018 compared to eight incidents in August 2018. Graph 1 shows the number of incidents reported each month from August 2017 to August 2018.

STATUS OF SHIPS

Of the eight incidents reported in August 2018, six incidents occurred on board ships at anchor/berth and two incidents on board ships while underway.

SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL OF INCIDENTS

Of the seven actual incidents reported in August 2018, one was CAT 2 incident and the other six were CAT 4 incidents. Chart 1 shows the significance level of incidents reported in August of 2009-2018.

LOCATION OF INCIDENTS

The location of the eight incidents reported in August 2018 is shown in Map 1.

JANUARY-AUGUST 2018

NUMBER OF INCIDENTS

A total of 57 incidents comprising of 45 actual incidents and 12 attempted incidents have been verified and reported to the ReCAAP ISC during January-August 2018. Of these, 54 were incidents of armed robbery against ships and three were piracy incidents.

Compared to January-August 2017, there was a 5% increase in the total number of incidents reported during January-August 2018. A total of 54 incidents comprising 46 actual and eight attempted incidents were reported during January-August 2017.

The increase in the total number of incidents during January-August 2018 was due to the larger number of attempted incidents compared to the same period in 2017. A total of 12 attempted incidents were reported during January-August 2018 compared to eight attempted incidents during the same period in 2017. The number of actual incidents remains fairly consistent during January-August of 2018 and 2017. A total of 45 actual incidents were reported during January- August 2018 compared to 46 incidents during the same period in 2017. Graph 2 shows the number of incidents reported during the 10-year reporting period of January-August.

SIGNIFICANCE LEVEL OF INCIDENTS

Of the 45 actual incidents reported during January-August 2018, four were CAT 2 incidents, nine were CAT 3 incidents and 32 were CAT 4 incidents. Chart 2 shows the significance level of incidents reported during January-August of 2009-2018.

No CAT 1 incident was reported during January-August 2018, and the majority of incidents were CAT 4 incidents. There were four CAT 2 incidents and they occurred at ports/anchorages in Bangladesh and Indonesia; and on board ships while underway off Pulau Tinggi, Malaysia and off Tanjung Kidurong, Sarawak, East Malaysia. Nine CAT 3 incidents were reported during January-August 2018, and all occurred on board ships anchored at ports/anchorages in Indonesia (five), Bangladesh (three) and Vietnam (one).