In Piracy and Security News 10/04/2015
High Risk Area
No piracy incidents have been reported in the HRA this week. The deteriorating security situation in Yemen, however, has been cause for concern for operators transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Fighting between the Houthi militia, backed by forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and those loyal to the ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is ongoing. The Houthi rebels have advanced on Aden over the past seven days with fierce fighting in the Mualla district of the city and some media reports, released on 6 April, suggesting that the rebels were now in control of the country’s main port, claims officials deny. PVI’s agents have reported that Aden port is closed, with the exception of the oil terminal, while the ports of Saleef and Hodeidah remain operational.
Nevertheless, recent reports of heavy fighting around Hodeidah are of concern. On 31 March an air strike blamed on the Saudi-led coalition killed more than 30 workers at a dairy factory in the Houthi rebel controlled port city.
Concern has increased about the vulnerability of the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait after Houthis established presence in the Zabab and Sheikh Said mountain areas near the key shipping route. On 3 April, Djibouti’s foreign minister, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, warned that Houthis had place large arms caches in the area, presenting a potential threat to commercial vessels. Several Arabic news sources reported that Saudi-led coalition forces conducted airstrikes on weapons caches – including land to sea missiles – on Berim Island amid concerns over the large deployment of weapons. An estimated 3.8 mn barrels of oil and refined products pass through the strait daily and although to date no disruption has been reported, longer-term control of Berim Island and areas around the Strait could influence the security of commercial vessel activity in the area. The Kuwaiti Petroleum Corporation reported on 30 March, that its shipments from Yemen remained unaffected by the ongoing Saudi-led military operations. Likewise, authorities with the Suez Canal said there had been no impact on navigation as a result of the deteriorating security situation in Yemen.
Southeast Asia
On 1 April, a group of between 15 and 25 pirates armed with handguns hijacked an underway product tanker approximately 62 nm north of Pulau Uwi, Indonesia. The attackers took all crew members hostage, damaged equipment on board and stole the crew’s personal belongings. They then transferred the ship’s fuel cargo into a secondary vessel before escaping. No crew members were harmed and the tanker sailed to a safe port following the attack.
• Southeast Asian waters saw a rise in hijackings of small product tankers during 2014 with at least 17 cases recorded. The trend has continued in 2015, with this case marking the sixth hijacking since the start of the year. The majority of reported hijackings have taken place in the same locality as this week’s report, off the eastern coast of Malaysia’s Johor state.
• Further analysis on the continuation of threats to small tankers in Southeast Asian waters can be found at http://pgitl.com/intelligence/insight/hijacking-cargo-theft-threat-tankerssoutheast-asia/
Two robbers boarded a general cargo ship at around 1300 hrs local time on 3 April in the Sandakan Port Berth No. 4, prompting the crew to raise the alarm and muster to the vessel’s citadel. Upon hearing the alarm, the robbers escaped along with stolen property. Police boarded the vessel and conducted an investigation.
• This is the first reported robbery against a vessel in Sandakan port and was likely the result of localised and opportunistic criminal activity. Activity off Sabah’s eastern coast is rare with only four reported incidents here since the beginning of 2012. One of the incidents, which took place on 5 July 2014, was an armed attack against a fishing vessel that resulted in the death of the vessel’s captain.
West Africa
A group of pirates attempted to board a vessel approximately 2.7 nm south of the port of Conakry. After approaching the vessel in a small boat at around 0330 hrs local time, pirates attached a bamboo stick with a hook to the deck of the vessel. As one of the crew tried to remove the hook, one of the pirates pointed an AK-47 at him. A patrol boat from Guinean port control was eventually dispatched to the area, following a number of failed attempts at contact. After successfully rebuffing the attack, nothing was found to be missing. All crew were safe and no injuries sustained.
• Pirate activity off of Conakry is rare with only five such incidents reported since the beginning of 2012 and the last reported incident taking place in June 2013. Nevertheless the incidents reported in this location share a number of key characteristics and it is likely that several incidents go unreported. Anchored or drifting vessels are at a heightened risk of attack, especially during late night and early morning hours. The criminals operating out of Conakry tend to work in groups of between five and seven and are heavily armed with the use of high speed vessels. They tend to target vessels for the crews’ personal belongings and cash and have demonstrated a willingness to use violence against resistant crew members on a number of occasions.
