Number of Attacks so far in 2001:

Including the reports in the weekly reports¹ and monthly reports after this first quarter, and any other reports, the total for the first half of this year is: 178. Recently I received the Third quarterly report² of the IMB and the total mentioned in this report after 9 months is: 253. After these 9 months some reports of incidents in October - December (in the Weekly reports) of the IMB have been published and the total up until now is: 342.
Part of my estimate for this year is based on the comparison of reported incidents of last year with regard to the IMB Weekly Reports and incidents reported in the IMB Annual Report: after the 3rd Quarterly Report 89 incidents have been reported in the numerous reports and based on this the total number could become 149. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has also published the reports for October, November and December¹⁶.
There have been some reports that have not been included in the reports of the IMO and IMB: the ASAM reports and reports from other sources like the Maritime Security reports and the Int'l Vessel Cas. D'base. The last few months less incidents have been reported in the Weekly reports of the IMB compared to last year.
The recently published Annual Report of the IMB³² puts the total number of piracy incidents for this year at a lower number than last year: ± 335.

The graph contains only the incidents from the IMB weekly reports set out against the IMB weekly reports for 2000!

Some of the more notable piracy incidents in the fourth quarter of 2001 so far are:

11.10.2001 at 0120 UTC off Cape Sierra Point, Sierra Leone River, Sierra Leone
Pirates armed with automatic weapons boarded a tanker from a motorboat. One pirate shot at the crew with a Kalashnikov. The marine superintendent on board fired back several rounds at the pirates from the ship's pump action shotgun and drove them away. No crew were injured. The incident was reported to Falmouth coast guard in UK, who in turn alerted local authorities in Sierra Leone¹.

21.10.2001 at 0005 LT at Belawan anchorage, Indonesia.
Seven pirates armed with knives boarded a chemical tanker. Three of the pirates stabbed the duty A/B with knives severely injuring him. A few minutes later several other pirates boarded via anchor chain. They threatened a second A/B and held him hostage. The duty officer raised alarm and crew mustered on deck. As a result pirates jumped overboard and escaped taking two portable radios. At 0100 LT the ship tried to contact the port control but received no response. At 0110 LT the ship contacted the pilot station that alerted other ships in the vicinity¹.

In the Vessel Attack and Hostile Incident Report - 10 October 2001 and the Int'l Vessel Cas. D'base menion is made of the following incident:
Two unidentified merchant ships were reportedly caught in the crossfire 23 Sep during a gun battle between the Navy and a flotilla of eight LTTE boats. The battle, 57 km off Mullaitivu, reportedly destroyed four LTTE. The fact that no merchant vessels have been named or further reported may indicate that the two ships were engaged in smuggling to the LTTE at the time, although later reports state the navy had escorted them to Trincomalee. The danger of ships getting caught up in battles ranging rather far offshore has always been present off northeastern Sri Lanka¹⁰.

A Sri Lankan oil tanker, M/T Silk Pride, with 660 tons of fuel for Jaffna, was attacked by 5 suicide bombers of the Tamil Tiger rebel army. One explosives-laden boat sparked fire and sank the vessel off port of Point Pedro on N. Jaffna peninsula. 3 sailors went missing and are presumed killed in a major blaze following the attack. 25 sailors were rescued by the Sri Lankan Navy and 10 LTTE rebels were killed. The fire was put out and the wrecked tanker was afterwards towed to the Kankesanthurai port. Reports on the incident were published in Weekly Piracy Report 30-10-2001 - 5-11-2001¹, Int'l Vessel Cas. D'base(Tues. Oct. 30 2001) and an article of the Shipping Times¹⁴.

The following incident has up till now not been included in the IMB Quarterly or Weekly Reports but has been included in the ASAM database and Maritime Security Circular MSC.4/Circ.9 :
LORNA, Yacht 20/03/01 12:30 LT 10º44'.60N 062º22'.10W Punta Toleda, 2 nm off the coast (Venezuela), Flag: Sweden
A small canoe with five armed robbers approached the yacht from behind. They asked for cigarettes and when they got even closer they opened fire and immediately boarded. They left after about ten minutes. Crew member shot. Personal belongings stolen and VHF sets destroyed. Trinidad and Tobago Police informed. Trinidad and Tobago Police investigated and handed over to the Venezuelan Embassy in Port of Spain. The Swedish Foreign Ministry assisted the Venezuelan Police on Isla Margarita. (Reported by: ISAF)¹⁶

According to a recent article in the Times of India the fishing industry off the Gulf of Kutch has suffered in recent years from pirate activity by pirates based in pakistani ports. On a regular basis fishermen and their boats are kidnapped and held for ransom by pirates based in Pakistani ports. According to the newspaper article fishermen have regularly complained about insufficient security in the area²⁰.

According to a recent article in the Vanguard of 6 December the fisheries industry of Nigeria is in trouble. Some Western companies are considering moving their businesses to other West African countries if the situation does not improve. The article reports on two attacks on fishing trawlers of Dolphine Fisheries Limited which have not yet been included in reports of the IMO or IMB ²⁵.

Measures taken/proposed:

In the Third Quarterly Report of the IMB mention is made of an Anti-Crime agreement between the Philippines and Malaysia. Both countries have agreed to further strengthen existing cooperation between both navies and the setting up of a joint monitoring system to combat crime at sea and piracy in waters betweeen both nations². In an article of the BBC Monitoring Service of Oct 23 mention is made of the annual naval exercises which the Philippines and Malaysia have started on 22 October. Familiarization with each navy's equipment and operation procedures is seen as a way to enhance existing cooperation which will result in an improvement in response effectiveness in case of, among other things, piracy incidents⁸. On 31 October the Philippine coast Guard will be holding joint exercises with the Japanese Coast Guard. These exercises are also intended to increase cooperation between both countries⁹.

Malaysia and Indonesia have recently agreed to cooperate further to decrease pirate activity and activities of other types of criminals or militants in waters bordering both countries. This was decided at a special 1-day meeting of the Malaysian-Indonesian General Border Committee (GBC). At the 30th meeting it was decided to set up a special committee in 2002 which will create a joint strategy. The formation of this committee will be done during 2002 and it needs to be officially installed, which will probably be done at the 31st meeting of the GBC Meeting at the end of that year¹⁸. Malaysia and Korea have also agreed to pool resources to increase security in the Malacca Straits. On September 27 both countries signed the Maritime Safety Cooperation Agreement in Kuala Lumpur to that affect¹⁹. On November 28 both Malaysia and Indonesia have launched a joint maritime operation in the Straits of Melaka / Malacca. This operation is part of a biannual operation between both countries. Indonesia has proposed that the operation be increased to 4 times each year²⁷.

In an article in the Shipping Times of 5 Oct⁴ a conference for 4-5 October in Tokyo is announced which has the title: "Asian Cooperation Conference on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships". In a concluding statement, published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, an overview is given of the three sessions held at the conference. The main conclusions were (in short): more cooperation between Asian nations is needed, the importance was stressed of cooperation between Asian countries and private sector companies, and, the Development of a regional cooperation agreement is needed⁵.

On 11 October the Third ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime took place in Singapore. The result of this conference is, in my opinion, not very large with regard to Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea: in the joint communique that was published at the website of ASEAN no particular mention is made of any specific efforts in this regard except that there is a growing need for the region to deal with it and that cooperation in this regard is necessary⁶.

On 18 October 2001 the President of BIMCO sent a letter to Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan, on the subject of piracy. Beth Jinks cites some parts of this letter in the Shipping Times article of 18 October⁷. The letter can be downloaded at the website of BIMCO. Piracy has gotten a more prominent place on this years agenda of the General Assembly and the President of BIMCO, in this letter, urges that the UN encourage its members to take measures along the following lines:

1. allocate sufficient manpower in the form of law enforcement personnel, empowered and equipped to protect against piracy and armed attacks on ships
2. institute national legislation addressing these specific crimes and enforcing appropriate punishment of perpetrators
3. establish an environment of partnership and cooperation involving coastal states, flag states, and the shipping industry in confronting these risks
4. institute robust security measures around terminals and installations including patrols around all vessels entering and leaving, at anchor or lying alongside in a port as well as restrictions aimed at only allowing authorised personnel to enter port areas.

According to a newspaper article in BBC Monitoring Service of 25 October¹¹ the Navy of Ghana is increasing its capability to combat pilferage and piracy in its territorial waters. Two new ships (donated by the USA) have been commissioned into the naval fleet. Also new personnel to man these vessels has just graduated and are now charged with protecting Ghana's waters.

A recent newspaper article in BBC Monitoring Service of 29 October¹² reports on talks that have been held between Japan and China maritime honcho's on Monday 29 October. Both countries have agreed on much closer cooperation to combat crimes like piracy, smuggling of people, drugs and weapons. At the end of the talks Katsuhiko Nawano (head of the Japan Coast Guard) and Zhao Yongji (China's vice public security minister) signed an agreement on full-scale joint-operations to that effect. This agreement may take away some reservations of Asian countries about Japan's and China's individual efforts because joint closer cooperation and security efforts in the Asian region indicates trust between these major political forces in the region. Another newspaper article in BBC Monitoring Service of 31 October¹³ reports on another project of Japan to cooperate closer with other Asian nations in efforts to combat piracy. Japan and the Philippines together have conducted an anti-piracy exercise on Wednesday 31 October which involved a simulated attack and rescue operation by land and sea. A newspaper article in the Bangkok Post reports on a anti-piracy training exercise held on 12 December between the Thai Marine Police and the Japanese coast guard²⁹. The exercise was held off the coast of Pattayaand included a simulated attack on a mock ship ³⁰.

This kind of cooperation is exactly what the Federation of Asean Shipowners' Association (FASA) has argued for together with the Asian Shipowners Forum's Safe Navigation & Environment Committee (SNEC) at their meeting last Saturday (3 November). At the annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur the Asean members were urged to ratify the 1988 Rome Convention for the suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety or Maritime Navigation. So far only four Asian nations have ratified the SUA convention: China, Japan, Australia and India¹⁵. A newspaper article on piracy that was written by Nathaniel Xavier on 12 November 2001 also contains the same recommendation²⁴. Xavier says that local Asian governments should increase efforts as well as cooperation among themselves and that the increase in patrols in some areas is insufficient by itself.

A newspaper report in the African newspaper New Vision reports on the increased security on Lake Victoria. Local fishermen of Kenya hailed the measures taken which included the deployment of army forces. Reports of Uganda activity on islands in Lake Victoria were refuted in the article¹⁷. According to another article in New Vision the Entebbe Police have said that pirate activity in parts of Lake Victoria has increased. The main focus are fishermen or businessmen who are robbed of merchandise and money²¹.

According to a letter in the Shipping Times of 15 November Singapore has decided to accede to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (= SUA Convention / Convention of Rome). At the moment the necessary steps are being taken to enact the necessary legislation for accession²².

In an article of the New Straits Times of 26 November mention is made of a round-table discussion between journalists and US Admiral Dennis Blair. The Commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command stated that not enough is done to combat the problem of piracy in Southeast Asia. He suggested that piracy ought to be viewed like terrorism and that the solutions would be along similar lines: closer coordination and cooperation. The admiral suggested creating a new body to tackle the issue of piracy at a higher level. He thinks that an International Coast Guard for operations inside International waters might also be part of the solution²³.

A newspaper article of 26 November reports on a bilateral agreement between the governments of Nigeria and South Africa in which they agree to closer cooperation between navies to combat piracy in the Southwest African waters. Over the past decades these waters, and in particular those near Nigeria, have been regularly plagued by pirates²⁶. Closer cooperation and joint patrols may decrease the number of incidents. The joint patrols between both navies will start in 2002. Hopefully this will also decrease attacks on local fishermen in the Warri Delta of Nigeria. Over the past 7 years frequent reports have been made on attacks where the target often is the theft of outboard engine boats. At least 17 people have died during these attacks ²⁸.

Success against pirates:

According to an article in the Shipping Times the tug Mayang Sari, which was hijacked last month, was recovered³. According to information from record 2001-281 from the ASAM database the tug was recovered 30 September at Banjarmasin (Indonesia) at a local shipyard where it was to be sold. According to the Third Quarterly Report of the IMB the Banjarmasin Authorities recovered the tug on 28 September. None of the pirates were found on or near the tug².

According to a report in the Int'l Vessel Cas. D'base there has been some success against pirates in Asian waters:
Vietnam's border soldiers chased & captured Cambodia pirates who were stalking Vietnamese fishing boats on Oct. 6 near Phu Quoc islands off S. province of Kien Giang. The pirates were caught with AK-47 rifles, & shotguns. The pirates had dubbed themselves "Cambodian Marine Police" & used speedboats to take Vietnamese fishermen to Cambodian waters for ransoming. Piracy is a major concern in the region, with dozens of cases of kidnapping every year near Phu Quoc islands in the overlapping waters between Vietnam & Cambodia. (Thurs. Oct. 11 2001)

According to a recent newspaper article the number of piracy incidents has decreased near Bangladesh in 2001³¹. According to the reports of the IMO and IMB Bangladesh saw a sharp rise of this number of incidents from about 10 in 1998 to over 50 in 2000. In 2001 the number of incidents has decreased to approx. 25-30. According to the article the decrease is the result of joint operations of forest officials, staff, police and coast guard from may to November of 2001.

Sources:

1. Weekly piracy report. - International Maritime Bureau. Piracy Reporting Centre:
   Weekly piracy report: 2 October 2001 to 8 October 2001. - 2001 October 9. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 96])
   Weekly piracy report: 9 October 2001 to 15 October 2001. - 2001 October 16. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 97])
   Weekly piracy report: 16 October 2001 to 22 October 2001. - 2001 October 23. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 98])
   Weekly piracy report: 23 October 2001 to 29 October 2001. - 2001 October 30. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 99])
   Weekly piracy report: 30 October 2001 to 5 November. - 2001 November 6. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 100])
   Weekly piracy report: 6 November 2001 to 12 November. - 2001 November 13. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 101])
   Weekly piracy report: 13 November 2001 to 19 November. - 2001 November 20. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 102])
   Weekly piracy report: 20 November 2001 to 26 November. - 2001 November 27. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 103])
   Weekly piracy report: 27 November 2001 to 3 December. - 2001 December 4. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 104])
   Weekly piracy report: 4 December 2001 to 10 December. - 2001 December 11. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 105])
   Weekly piracy report: 11 December 2001 to 17 December. - 2001 December 18. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 106])
   Weekly piracy report: 18 December 2001 to 24 December. - 2001 December 25. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 107])
   Weekly piracy report: 25 December 2001 to 31 December. - 2002 January 1. - (Weekly piracy report ; [nr. 108])
2. Piracy and armed robbery against ships : report for the period 1 January - 30 September 2001
   . - London : ICC International Maritime Bureau, 15 Oct 2001. - 59 p. - (Piracy and armed robbery against ships)
3. Hijacked tug recovered
   In: Shipping Times (2001 Oct 5) [Newspaper article]
4. Tokyo summit seeks to fight Asian high seas pirates
   In: Shipping Times (2001 Oct 5) [Newspaper article]
5. Chairman's Concluding Statement for Asian Cooperation Conference on Combating Piracy
   and Armed Robbery against Ships (October 4th-5th, 2001)
   Source: http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/piracy/state0110.html
6. Joint Communique - Third ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC),
   11 October 2001, Singapore / ASEAN. - ASEAN, 2001 Oct
   Source: http://www.aseansec.org/
7. BIMCO urges UN Chief to increase maritime security / Beth Jinks
   In: Shipping Times (2001 Oct 18) [Newspaper article]
8. Philippines, Malaysia begin joint naval exercises
   In: BBC Monitoring Service (2001 Oct 23) [Newspaper article]
9. Japan to send ship to Philippines for anti-piracy drill
   In: BBC Monitoring Service (2001 Oct 23) [Newspaper article]
10. Vessel attack and hostile incident report - 10 October 2001. - MaritimeSecurity.com,
    2001 Oct 10. - (Vessel attack and hostile incident report)
    Source: http://www.maritimesecurity.com/archive/updates/2001/VAHIR-10-Oct-2001.pdf
11. Ghana: President Kufuor expresses confidence in armed forces
    In: BBC Monitoring Service (2001 Oct 25) [Newspaper article]
12. Japan, China agree on full bilateral maritime cooperation
    In: BBC Monitoring Service (2001 Oct 29) [Newspaper article]
13. Philippine, Japanese coastguards conduct anti-piracy exercise
    In: BBC Monitoring Service (2001 Oct 31) [Newspaper article]
14. Suicide bombers attack oil tanker off Sri Lanka
    In: Shipping Times (2001 Oct 18) [Newspaper article]
15. Asian govts must jointly fight piracy: shipowners / Beth Jinks
    In: Shipping Times (2001 Nov 6) [Newspaper article]
16. Acts reported during October 2001. - London : International Maritime Organization.
    Maritime Safety Committee, 2001 Oct 31. - (Reports on acts of piracy and armed robbery
    against ships ; MSC.4/Circ.9). - 5 p.
    Acts reported during November 2001. - London : International Maritime Organization.
    Maritime Safety Committee, 2001 Nov 30. - (Reports on acts of piracy and armed robbery
    against ships ; MSC.4/Circ.10). - 6 p.
    Acts reported during December 2001. - London : International Maritime Organization.
    Maritime Safety Committee, 2001 Dec 31. - (Reports on acts of piracy and armed robbery
    against ships ; MSC.4/Circ.11). - 6 p.
17. Naava hailed for war on pirates / Josephine Maseruka
    In: New Vision (2001 Nov 5) [Newspaper article]
18. Malaysia, Indonesia to set up committee against cross-border militant activities
    In: BBC Monitoring (2001 Nov 6) [Newspaper article]
19. Korea, Malaysia unite against piracy
    In: Fairplay International (2001 Oct 4)
20. Saurashtra fishermen live under the shadow of fear / Narandas Thacker
    In: The Times of India (2001 Nov 5) [Newspaper article]
21. Robbery and assault increase on L. Victoria, say Police / Davis Weddi
    In: New Vision (2001 Nov 10) [Newspaper article]
22. S'pore working towards Rome Convention accession
    In: Shipping Times (2001 Nov 15) [Newspaper article]
23. Co-ordination needed to tackle pirates / K.P. Waran
    In: New Strait Times (2001 Nov 26) [Newspaper article]
24. Ratify Rome Convention / Nathaniel Xavier
    In: The Malaysia Star (2001 Nov 12) [Newspaper article]
25. Piracy threatens fisheries industry - Fison / Nduka Uzuakpundu
    In: Vanguard (2001 Dec 6) [Newspaper Article]
26. Le Nigeria et l'Afrique du Sud auront une patrouille navale conjointe
    On: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks (2001 Nov 26) [Newspaper article]
27. Malaysia, Indonesia hold joint Maritime operation
    In: Xinhua News Agency (2001 Nov 28) [Newspaper article]
28. Pirates kill 17, Snatch 99 outboard engines in Delta / Isaac Williams
    In: This Day (2001 Nov 28) [Newspaper article]
29. Japanese vessel joins anti-piracy exercise
    In: Bangkok Post (2001 Dec 12) [Newspaper article]
30. Exercise against sea piracy / Anucha Charoenpo
    In: Bangkok Post (2001 Dec 13) [Newspaper article]
31. Piracy in Bangladesh comes down
    In: Xinhua News Agency (2001 Dec 21) [Newspaper article]
32. Piracy and armed robbery against ships - annual report: 1 January-31 December 2001
    / Piracy Reporting Centre. - Barking, United Kingdom : ICC International Maritime Bureau,
    2002 Jan. - (Piracy and armed robbery against ships - annual report)