Dryad: Maritime crime on the rise in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia continues to be a hotspot for maritime crime incidents, with 120 reports of piracy and other crime in the region in the first six months of 2015, according to the latest figures from Dryad Maritime.    Maritime crime incidents have increased 22 percent in the first half of 2015, according to the latest figures from Dryad Maritime.
   The UK-based marine intelligence and operations company said in its most recent analysis of worldwide reported incidents of piracy and crime against mariners that Southeast Asia continues to be a hotspot for maritime crime.
   Dryad said there were 120 incidences of piracy and crime reported in Southeast Asia since January 1, 2015, the most of any region examined in the global study. Of those incidents, 12 were vessel hijackings, a 33.4 percent increase from nine during the first six months of 2014.
   The analysis noted that the arrest of two sets of hijackers earlier in the year may result in a slowdown in the numbers of small product tankers being hijacked in the region, but warned hijackings are likely to resume in July, “as the criminal gangs involved have proved themselves to be both resilient and adaptable.”
   In other regions, kidnapping of crew for ransom remains the most significant threat to mariners, according to Dryad. In the Gulf of Guinea, for example at least 20 mariners were kidnapped from vessels in April and May alone.
   “Our latest figures for piracy and maritime crime highlight the uncertain, chaotic and, sometimes, dangerous nature of global maritime operations,” Ian Millen, chief operating officer of Dryad Maritime said of the analysis. “The continued containment of the Somali piracy threat is both welcome and a testament to the measures taken to tackle it, but other areas give us more cause for concern.  Southeast Asia is in urgent need of a joined-up effort to tackle the criminal gangs who are hijacking small regional tankers and robbing other vessels in transit, with the Singapore Strait being in dire need of some effective, coordinated action.
   “The wars in Yemen and Libya and the security integrity of important arteries like Suez, bring their own complexities to maritime operations,” he added. “From restrictions on maritime trade in Libya and Yemen, terrorism concerns in the Suez Canal zone and the pressures of becoming engaged in mass migration rescue operations, mariners, and those who have a duty of care to them have a plenty to think about. As if that wasn’t enough, we’ve seen vessels attacked by military and rebel forces off Libyan ports and others fired upon and detained in the Arabian Gulf.”