Monthly Piracy Report September 2012

All information presented below are retrieved from ICC Commercial Crime Services (CCS) and are being updated on a monthly basis. For up to date live and accurate information please refer to ICC Commercial Crime Services (CCS) website.

• Total Attacks Worldwide: 225
• Total Hijackings Worldwide: 24
• Total Incidents in Somalia: 70
• Total Hijackings in Somalia: 13
• Total Hostages in Somalia: 212
  
• Vessels held by Somali Pirates: 11
• Hostages held by Somali Pirates: 188

For a geographical representation of pirate attacks location please refer to IMB Piracy & Armed Robbery Map, a very valuable tool that shows all the piracy and armed robbery incidents reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre during 2012. If exact coordinates are not provided, estimated positions are shown based on information provided. Zoom-in and click on the pointers to view more information of an individual attack. Pointers may be superimposed on each other.

PIRACY & ARMED ROBBERY REPORTS until last week of September

• 29.09.2012: 1930 LT: Posn: Belawan Anchorage, Indonesia. Three robbers armed with knives boarded an anchored chemical tanker at forecastle. They held the duty A/B at knife point and tied him up and stole ship’s stores. D/O raised the alarm upon sighting the robbers and crew mustered. Seeing the crew alertness, the robbers escaped in their fishing boat with the stolen stores. Port control informed.
• 16.09.2012: 0200 LT: Posn: 06:02S – 106:55E, Jakarta Anchorage, Indonesia. While at anchor, six robbers in an unlit boat boarded a container ship using a hook attached with rope. They broke into the safety store and the deck store and stole equipment and ship’s properties. Alarm raised and crew mustered. The robbers escaped in their boat with the stolen items.
• 17.08.2012: 0310 LT: Posn: 01:06.4N – 104:10.5E, Around 1.3nm Off Kabil Port, Batam, Indonesia. During security rounds in the accommodation area, duty watchman noticed one person on the main deck through the weather tight door. Bridge duty officer notified and alarm raised. Upon hearing the alarm, the robbers escaped in a small timber boat. Crew mustered and conducted a search throughout the vessel. Upon investigation it was found that the vessel’s properties were stolen.
• 14.09.2012: 1415 LT: Posn: 01:14.84N – 103:27.94E, 3nm Off Tanjung Piai, Malaysia. A Coast Guard boat received a call to inspect a tanker during a routine patrol. Upon approaching the tanker closer, robbers were noticed descending into a speed boat tied alongside the tanker. The speed boat departed from the tanker and headed towards Karimun Island, Indonesia. There was another vessel tied alongside the tanker suspected to be stealing cargo. The Coast Guard boarded the tanker and found the 12 crew members with their hands tied up.
• 25.09.2012: 0035 LT: Posn: 01:16.1N – 104:14.1E, 6.8nm NW of Bintan Island, Indonesia. Officers on watch onboard a tug towing a barge underway noticed two robbers had boarded the barge. Alarm raised, SSAS activated, sent distress on VHF, reported to Singapore port control and crew mustered. At 0237 LT, a police boat arrived on scene but they could not find any small boats behind the barge. Police escorted the vessel and left at 0250 LT. It seems that the robbers escaped upon seeing the police boat. The tug continued the passage.
• 24.09.2012: 0545 LT: Posn: 01:07.1N – 103:35.4E, STS Nipah Anchorage, Indonesia. Two robbers attempted to board an anchored tanker from the port quarter sunken deck. Alert crew noticed the robbers and raised the alarm. Upon hearing the alarm, the robbers aborted the attempted boarding and escaped. Authorities informed via local agents.
• 08.09.2012: Night hours: Posn: 01:13.82N – 103:34.81E, Off Tanjung Piai, Johor, Malaysia. Unnoticed robbers boarded an anchored tanker during heavy rain, stole ship’s property and escaped. The theft was noticed by the duty crew after the rain stopped.
• 21.09.2012: 0135 LT: Posn: 18:33.09N – 072:22.01W, Port-Au-Prince Anchorage, Haiti. Three robbers armed with machetes boarded an anchored general cargo ship. Watchman on routine rounds noticed the robbers at forecastle deck. The robbers attacked the watchman and injured him. D/O raised alarm and crew mustered. Upon hearing the alarm and seeing the crew alertness, the robbers escaped with the stolen stores. Port authority informed and the coast guard arrived at the location after three hours.
• 08.09.2012: 0335 LT: Douala Port, Cameroon. While the shore security watchmen onboard a berthed LPG tanker were taking a break armed robbers boarded the vessel, took hostage the deck cadet on duty and stole ship’s properties. Before escaping they released the cadet who immediately raised the alarm. Incident reported to port control and a police team boarded for investigation.
• 19.09.2012: 0400 LT: Chittagong anchorage, Bangladesh. Two robbers armed with knives boarded an anchored bulk carrier awaiting cargo operations and held the duty A/B hostage at knife point. Four more robbers boarded the ship via the hawse pipe. They searched the duty A/B for the keys to the store rooms and then tied him up. As no keys were available the robbers broke into the store room and managed to steal ship stores. Stevedores on an approaching lighter vessel spotted the robbers and raised the alarm. Seeing the alert crew and stevedores the robbers escaped via the hawse pipe.
• 09.09.2012: 1935 UTC: Posn: 06:09.03N – 002:53.36E, Around 34nm SW of Lagos, Nigeria. Pirates armed with guns chased and fired upon a tanker underway. Master raised alarm, increased speed, took evasive manoeuvres and non-essential crew mustered in the citadel. The pirates attempted to board the tanker several times and later aborted the attempted attack due to the evasive manoeuvres from the tanker. No injuries to crew but there were several bullet marks on the superstructure.
• 08.09.2012: 0235 LT: Posn: 05:34.9S – 104:36.6E, Teluk Semangka, Indonesia. Five robbers armed with sticks in a small fishing boat approached and boarded an anchored LPG tanker. Alert duty crew noticed the robbers and informed bridge who raised the alarm and crew mustered. Upon hearing the alarm, the robbers escaped empty handed. Port control informed.
• 03.09.2012: 2045 LT: Posn: 03:55.0N – 098:46.6E, Belawan Anchorage, Indonesia. Six robbers armed with guns and knives boarded an anchored chemical tanker using hook attached to a bamboo pole. The forward duty A/B noticed the robbers and attempted to contact the bridge via his walkie-talkie but the robbers snatched it, took him as hostage and tied him up. While the robbers were stealing ship’s stores and properties, the A/B managed to free himself and rais the alarm. Upon hearing the alarm, the robbers escaped with the stolen items. Port control informed.
• 07.09.2012: 0330 LT: Posn: 21:40N – 088:01E, Sagar Anchorage, Haldia, India. Four robbers armed with knives boarded a chemical tanker under pilotage from the aft. They were spotted by the duty crew on anti piracy watch who immediately informed the Chief officer and Master. Alarm raised and crew mustered. By the time the crew arrived the robbers had escaped with ship stores. Local authorities informed.
• 11.09.2012: 1300 LT: Posn: 03:54N – 098:46E, Belawan Anchorage, Indonesia. Five robbers in a small boat approached an anchored container ship. of these two robbers boarded the ship, broke into the forward store, stole ship’s properties and escaped upon seeing duty A/B approaching. Port control informed.
• 05.09.2012: 0053 UTC : Posn: 06:11N – 002:56E, Lagos Anchorage, Nigeria. A large group of heavily armed pirates boarded a drifting chemical tanker. The crew shut down / disabled all machinery and retreated into the citadel and contacted their owners / CSO for help. Upon receipt of this distress message the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre contacted the Nigerian authorities and foreign Naval forces to try and assistance the crew and vessel. The Nigerian authorities dispatched a helicopter which located the vessel and a warship arrived at the location and rescued the 23 crew members and vessel safely. The vessel was escorted by the warship to a safe anchorage.
• 16.08.2012: 0400 UTC: Posn: 04:45S – 011:49E, Pointe Noire Anchorage, The Congo. Unnoticed robbers boarded an anchored supply ship and broke into various store rooms, stole ship’s stores and properties and escaped. The theft was noticed by the duty crew on security rounds. Incident reported to Port Authority.
• 04.09.2012: 0430 LT: Kabil Port, Batam, Indonesia. Four robbers boarded a berthed chemical tanker and entered the engine room where a duty motorman noticed and challenged them. One of the robbers pushed and hit the motorman who then retreated into the engine control room, locked himself, raised alarm and informed the D/O. Upon hearing the alarm, the robbers escaped. Coast guard informed and they came onboard for investigation.
• 02.09.2012: 0515 LT: Posn: 00:13.35S – 117:35.18E, Muara Berau Anchorage, Samarinda, Indonesia. Five robbers in a speed boat approached and boarded an anchored bulk carrier awaiting cargo operations. They broke into the paint store and boatswain store and stole ship stores and properties. C/O noticed the robbers on the forecastle deck and raised the alarm. On hearing the alarm and seeing crew alertness, the robbers jumped overboard and escaped with the stolen items in their waiting boat. Vessel made several attempts to contact port control but received no response.