Strait of Malacca Piracy: Product Tanker Hijacked, Product Stolen

Arrow indicates area of attack

Report from the IMB here:

07.11.2013: 0330 LT: Posn: 01:20.6N-103:18.2E, around 7.3nm West of Pulau Kukup, Malaysia. Ten robbers armed with guns and knives boarded and hijacked a product tanker underway. They tied up all the crew members and held them hostage in one cabin. Later they commanded that Master to steer the ship to a pre-designated position. The vessel came alongside another orange hull tanker and the robbers forced the C/O and the bosun to use the cargo pumps and valves and the mooring winches. At around 1600LT the robbers left the ship after transferring and stealing all the gas oil. Before leaving the ship the robbers also stole crew belongings. No crew injured during incident.

Area of attack circled

As noted here, this the second incident of this type in a month and the third in two months:

An oil tanker has become the second such vessel to be hijacked in Malaysian waters in four weeks, the International Maritime Bureau said today, adding it marked rising piracy in the region.

A Panamanian-flagged vessel was yesterday boarded by 10 armed pirates, who emptied it of the oil it was carrying into another ship before disembarking.

In early October a Thai-flagged oil tanker went missing for two days after a hijacking before being released without its cargo.

The IMB said there had been an increase in the number of attacks on Malaysia’s coast recently but added it could not be sure if the two most recent attacks were by the same group.

Strait of Malacca piracy so far in 1013 (IMB)

“This is the third attack in two months, with the last two using the same modus operandi to steal the gas oil,” said Noel Choong, head of IMB’s Kuala Lumpur-based piracy reporting centre.

Very similar to the oil theft piracy going on in the Gulf of Guinea, too.

In any event, piracy is on the increase in these waters.