Report Highlights Rise of Maritime Crime in Southeast Asia

U.K. maritime intelligence provider Dryad Maritime are to release a specialist report, ‘Special Advisory Southeast Asia: Disorganized theft to organized crime,’ which will focus on the rise of targeted hijackings in Southeast Asia.

The advisory to be released on March 18, 2013 provides an overview of the security situation and the increased threat from maritime crime in the region. 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 prearranged customers.

Providing detailed insight into the evolving trend of marine piracy to target commercial vessels, the special advisory is valuable reading for shipowners, managers and charterers operating in maritime high risk areas spanning the Singapore Straits, the South China Sea and the Indonesian archipelago. The report offers the reader 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% increase in maritime crime throughout Southeast Asia which now stands at 44% of all maritime based criminal activity reported worldwide.

Karen Jacques, Chief Operating Officer, Dryad Maritime, “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 intelligence analysis to identify risk reduction will be available to download on March 18, 2013 free of charge via Dryad Maritime’s website: www.dryadmaritime.com.