ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC) has issued an alert over three boardings of vessels this week in the eastbound lane of the Singapore Strait.
The incidents between 25 and 29 January continue a pattern seen last year of ships being boarded by robbers in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) close to the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan.
The incidents involved a bulk carrier Ark Royal at 03-25 hrs on 25 January, the bulker Elvia at 22-32 hrs on 28 January, and the general cargo vessel Vantage Wave at 02-21 hrs on 29 January.
“The three incidents occurred in close proximity to each other and in particular, two incidents occurred within an interval of four hours. In all three incidents, the perpetrators were sighted in the engine room. However, nothing was reported stolen and the crew was safe with no confrontation with the perpetrators,” ReCAAP said in the warning.
ReCAAP warned of the possibility of further incidents and ships transiting the busy shipping are advised to adopt extra precautionary measures and enhanced vigilance.
“The ReCAAP ISC urges the littoral States to increase patrols and enforcement in their respective waters, strengthen coordination among them and promote information sharing on the latest situation, and the criminal groups involved in order to make arrests of the perpetrators,” it said.
There were a total of 34 incidents in the Singapore Strait reported last year of which 30 were in the eastbound lane of the TSS.