Report Warns of Rise in Maritime Crime in South East Asia

March 18, 2013

UK’-based marine intelligence provider, Dryad Maritime, is releasing a special report – “Special Advisory Southeast Asia. Disorganized theft to organized crime” – which will focus on the rise of targeted hijackings in South East Asia.

The advisory, to be released today, March 18, 2013, provides an overview of the security situation and the increased threat from maritime crime in the region. Dryad said its risk analysis of these incidents “has shown that the hijack of merchant vessels does not follow the same pattern as seen in the Horn of Africa where vessels and crew are taken to be ransomed back to their original owners.

“In South East Asia, hijackings are a more sophisticated business, led by intelligence where vessels are targeted for their cargo or for the hull, to pre-arranged customers.” The report focuses on what Dryad described as “the evolving trend of marine piracy to target commercial vessels.”

It is of particular interest for ship owners, managers and charterers operating in “maritime high risk areas spanning the Singapore Straits, the South China Sea and the Indonesian archipelago,” Dryad said. It provides a “thorough and in-depth insight into how and why the trend is emerging for the sophisticated boarding and hijacking of product tankers and fuel barges. 2012 saw an 8.5 percent increase in maritime crime throughout South East Asia which now stands at 44 percent of all maritime based criminal activity reported worldwide.”

Dryad’s COO Karen Jacques commented: “Our South East Asia special advisory is specifically designed to forewarn and equip maritime operators with the latest intelligence on the region which will allow them to plan their transits and assess risk accurately. Our analysts have collated intelligence from a wide range of sources to produce this unique and essential report into the growth of maritime crime in the region. It highlights emerging areas of risk which cannot be treated with complacency and also provides clear advice that will enable Masters and crew to implement new procedures that will help to significantly reduce risk.

“The continued concentration of media attention and resources on areas such as the Gulf of Guinea is still important; however, it must not mask the essential need for the early identification of evolving threats in other areas. This advisory allows seafarers to make decisions based on accurate intelligence and therefore take preventative measures as necessary”.

The report compiled by using state of the art intelligence analysis to identify risk reduction is available to download.

Source: Dryad Maritime

Topics Trends Fraud

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