The question of whether, how, and when the Israel-Hamas war may escalate remains, and in the past two weeks, there is some evidence that international shipping may be a new area where at least some expansion of the conflict might take place. The fighting has not remained limited to Israel and the West Bank/Gaza Strip even since the outset of hostilities. Other types of horizontal escalation have taken place almost since the start of the fighting. Houthi rebels in Yemen fired cruise missiles and drones at Israel that were intercepted ...

The ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC) today held a dialogue with the shipping industry to discuss security concerns of vessels transiting the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS). The dialogue comes on the back of a 37% increase in incidents of armed robbery against ships in the SOMS from July to September 2023 compared to the same period last year. The ReCAAP ISC during the dialogue session, presented the situation of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia from Jan – Oct 2023. A total of 91 incidents of ...

Warnings, advisories and piracy incidents in the Indian Ocean Area by the UKMTO in the past week.

The ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC), in cooperation with its Bangladesh Focal Point, the Bangladesh Department of Shipping, Ministry of Shipping, concluded a three-day Capacity Building Workshop (CBW) held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 24 to 26 October 2023. The workshop served to strengthen the skillsets of ReCAAP Focal Point officers to report and verify incidents of piracy and sea robbery in Asia. Mr Tipu Munshi, Honourable Minister of Commerce, Bangladesh, on 25 October 2023, graced as the Chief Guest for the inaugural function of the capacity building workshop. He said ...

Warnings, advisories and piracy incidents in the Indian Ocean Area by the UKMTO in the past week.

Executive Summary All incidents reported during January-September 2023 were incidents of Armed Robbery Against Ships (ARAS). No incident of piracy (on high seas) was reported. The ships boarded invariably were of low in freeboard and manoeuvring at slow speed in restricted waters, and with crew ill-prepared while traversing the area of concern. However, perpetrators escaped empty-handed or aborted their attempts to board ships where crew were alert and vigil. During the third quarter (Q3) (July-September) of 2023, a total of 23 incidents of ARAS in Asia were reported to the ...

Warnings, advisories and piracy incidents in the Indian Ocean Area by the UKMTO in the past week.

The ReCAAP ISC was extremely concerned with the large-scale increase in incidents of abduction of crew for ransom situation in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and waters off Eastern Sabah since March 2016. On 21 Nov 2016, the Centre published an Incident Alert titled Increasing Cases of Abduction of Crew for Ransom from Ships, advising ships to re-route from the area, where possible. The ship masters and crew are otherwise urged to exercise extra vigilance while transiting the area and report immediately to the Operation Centre of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ...

Warnings, advisories and piracy incidents in the Indian Ocean Area by the UKMTO in the past week.

The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has revealed a rise in reported incidents in the Gulf of Guinea and concerns for the Singapore Straits in its latest report for the period of January-September 2023, released today. Ninety-nine incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported in the first nine months of 2023, an increase from 90 incidents for the same period in 2022. This year, 85 vessels were boarded, nine had attempted attacks, three were hijacked and two were fired upon. Perpetrators successfully boarded 89% of targeted vessels ...

Warnings, advisories and piracy incidents in the Indian Ocean Area by the UKMTO in the past week.

Regional conflicts, heightened military activity, and increased political tensions continue to pose threats to commercial vessels operating in this region, warns flag administrations. The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Maritime Administrator on 13 July 2023 issued a ship security advisory (SSA-03-23, Rev.3) that warns vessels transiting the Arabian/Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea about the increased level of political tension in this region and advises them to maintain a heightened level of vigilance. A similar warning went out to vessels earlier this year from ...

The ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC), in cooperation with its Australia Focal Point, the Australia Border Force (Maritime Border Command), today concluded a four-day Capacity Building Executive Programme (CBEP) attended by the coast guards, navies and maritime law enforcement agencies from Australia and 12 ReCAAP Focal Points (Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Laos, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, United States), as well as the Indonesian Coast Guard and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA). The Australian Department of Home Affairs Cyber and Infrastructure Security Group and the Australian National Centre ...

Warnings, advisories and piracy incidents in the Indian Ocean Area by the UKMTO in the past week.

Warnings, advisories and piracy incidents in the Indian Ocean Area by the UKMTO in the past week.