Monthly Piracy Report October 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: 252
• Total Hijackings Worldwide: 26
• Total Incidents in Somalia: 71
• Total Hijackings in Somalia: 13
• Total Hostages in Somalia: 212
  
• Vessels held by Somali Pirates: 9
• Hostages held by Somali Pirates: 154

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 October

• 27.10.2012: 2330 LT: Posn: 03:41.5S – 114:27.9E, Taboneo Anchorage, Banjarmasin, Indonesia. Three robbers boarded an anchored bulk carrier in ballast awaiting cargo operations. Duty crew on rounds noticed a robber on the forecastle deck and he informed the D/O who raised the alarm. Upon hearing the alarm and seeing the crew alertness, the robbers jumped overboard and escaped with ship’s stores in two waiting boats.
• 27.10.2012: 0118 LT: Posn: 03:53.9N – 098:46.4E, Belawan Outer Anchorage, Indonesia. About 3-4 robbers boarded an anchored bulk carrier. They took hostage the duty A/B and stole his personal belongings. The A/B managed to escape and raised the alarm. Upon hearing the alarm, the robbers escaped. Crew mustered and made a search and found that nothing else was stolen from the ship.
• 27.10.2012: 0030 LT: Posn: 03:56N – 098:47E, Belawan Anchorage, Indonesia. Three robbers armed with long knives boarded an anchored container ship via anchor chain. They took hostage the duty crew and tied him up at the forecastle deck. Another duty crew reported the incident to the bridge and the D/O raised the alarm and contacted the port authorities but received no response. Three rocket flares were fired at the forecastle resulting in the robbers escaped in their small fishing boat. Upon investigation found that nothing was stolen from the ship but the robbers managed to steal the duty crew’s mobile phone only.
• 24.10.2012: 2015 UTC: Posn: 03:54.4N – 005:25.1E, Nigeri Estuary, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Pirates in a speed boat attempted to board a barge carrier underway by throwing a hook to the upper deck of the vessel. The vessel made evasive manoeuvres, increased speed and avoided the boarding.
• 21.10.2012: 1220 LT: Posn: 03:47.8N – 098:42.1E, Belawan International Container Terminal, Indonesia. Two robbers armed with long knives in a small boat approached a berthed container ship. Alert duty crew noticed one robber attempting to board the ship using a rope. The crew shouted at the robber who aborted the boarding and escaped.
• 20.10.2012: 0130 LT: Posn: 03:55.1N – 098:46.9E, Belawan Anchorage, Indonesia. Robbers boarded an anchored container ship unnoticed. They stole ship’s stores and escaped.
• 19.10.2012: 0230 LT: Posn: Karimun STS Anchorage, Indoensia. About three to five robbers boarded a tanker during STS operations. They entered into the engine room and escaped with ship’s stores and engine spares.
• 18.10.2012: Tanjung Datu, Sarawak, Malaysia. Robbers boarded a tug towing a barge, stole crew cash and escaped.
• 18.10.2012: 0220 LT: Posn: 01:18N – 104:48E, Off Pulau Bintan, Indonesia. Six pirates in a speed boat boarded a tug towing a barge. They took hostage all the crew, tied them up and stole crew cash and personal effects before escaping. Master was slightly injured during the incident.
• 17.10.2012: 0200 LT: 00:52.9N – 105:10.7E, Around 19.4nm East of Pulau Mapur, Indonesia. Ten robbers armed with guns and knives boarded a salvage vessel towing a barge from Singapore to Balikpapan, Indonesia. The robbers stole ship’s properties, crew cash and property and escaped. All the crew members are safe and the vessel continued her passage towards Balikpapan.
• 16.10.2012: 0035 LT: 09:24.1N – 013:45.9W, Conakry roads, Guinea. Six robbers boarded a general cargo ship at anchor. The crew secured themselves in the accommodation and contacted the owners for help. The Owners informed the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre which relayed the message to the Guinea authorities who dispatched a patrol boat to assist the vessel. The robbers stole cargo contents from the containers and escaped upon seeing the approaching patrol boat. All crew safe.
• 16.10.2012: 0405 LT: Posn: 00:15.6S – 117:35.6E, Muara Berau anchorage, Samarinda, Indonesia. Three robbers boarded a bulk carrier at anchor. They were spotted by the duty crew during security rounds. The duty A/B reported to the bridge and approached the robbers who assaulted and injured him. The robbers stole the duty A/B’s belongings and escaped.
• 15.10.2012: 1130 UTC: 03:39N – 006:14E, Around 40nm South of Brass, Nigeria. Seven armed pirates boarded an anchor handling tug underway via a speedboat launched from a mother vessel. They stole crew personal effects, kidnapped seven crew members and escaped. Remaining crew safe onboard vessel.
• 15.10.2012: 0200 LT: 01:06.7N – 104:10.2E, Kabil Citranusa Port, Batam, Indonesia. Three robbers boarded a general cargo ship at anchor. They were spotted by the alert duty crew who raised the alarm. Upon sensing the crew alertness, the robbers escaped empty handed.
• 13.10.2012: 2210 LT: Posn: 22:15.1N – 091:44.6E, Chittagong Anchorage ‘A’, Bangladesh. Seven robbers armed with long knives boarded an anchored bulk carrier from the aft during cargo operations. Duty crew noticed the robbers trying to steal ship’s stores and raised the alarm. On hearing the alarm and seeing the crew alertness, the robbers jumped into the water and escaped with the stolen stores. Coast guard informed and a patrol boat came to the location and searched for the robbers but the robbers had fled.
• 10.10.2012: 1210 UTC: Posn: 00:26N – 050:39E, Around 320nm ESE of Mogadishu, Somalia. A skiff with six to eight pirates onboard approached and fired upon a fishing vessel at high speed. The onboard security team returned fire resulting in the skiff aborting and moving away. All crew safe.
• 08.10.2012: 0235 LT: Posn: 22:13.9N – 091:43.3E, Chittagong Inner Anchorage, Bangladesh. Around 12 robbers boarded a anchor handling tug at anchor when four deck crew were working on deck. On spotting the robbers with swords the crew retreated into the accommodation and raised the alarm. Crew mustered, fired pyro techniques and informed the coast guard who arrived and searched the area. The robbers managed to escape with stolen ship’S stores.
• 05.10.2012: 0300 LT: Posn: 29:49N – 032:33E, Suez Anchorage, Egypt. Four robbers boarded an anchored container ship via the hawse pipe. They broke into a container and stole the contents while the duty crew were tending to the Suez canal mooring boat. When the duty crew returned to the forecastle he noticed two robbers escaping in a small unlit boat near the anchor chain. Port authorities informed. All crew safe.
• 05.10.2012: 2330 LT: Posn: 05:12.56N – 004:03.68E, 3nm South of Abidjan Port Anchorage, Ivory Coast. Around 14 pirates armed with AK47 and knives boarded and hijacked an anchored tanker. They damaged the ship’s communication equipment and sailed the tanker to an unknown location where part of the cargo was transferred into another vessel. Prior to leaving the vessel on 09.10.2012 the pirates stole crew personal belongings and cash.
• 05.10.2012: 0545 LT: Posn: 00:13.9S – 117:33.0E, Muara Berau Anchorage, Samarinda, Indonesia. Six robbers armed with long knives boarded an anchored bulk carrier. Duty crew noticed the robbers stealing ship’s stores from the forward locker and raised the alarm. Upon hearing the alarm, the robbers escaped in their boat with the stolen stores. Coast guard informed.
• 04.10.2012: 2030 UTC: Posn: 04:48.8N – 001:25.1E, around 80nm south of Lome, Togo. Around 10 to 12 pirates armed with automatic guns boarded a tanker drifting in the STS area. The pirates hijacked the tanker and mustered all crew on the bridge while waiting for a bunker barge to steal ship’s cargo. When the bunker barge arrived, the ship’s crew were forced to prepare the fenders for the vessel to come alongside. After stealing the cargo the pirates locked the crew in the Master’s cabin, damaged some of the navigational equipment, stole ship’s cash, crew personal belongings, provisions, bonded store and electronics items and then left the tanker on 05.10.2012 in the early morning hours. All crew are safe apart from some physical injuries.