Singapore saw an above-average number of illegal vessel boardings in November as the tally this year passed the 50-ship mark.
Seven vessels — four bulkers and three tug/barge combinations — were boarded last month, according to the Singapore Navy’s Information Fusion Centre (IFC).
Five of those incidents occurred in the Phillip Channel, and two were in the westbound lane of the traffic separation scheme within the Singapore Strait.
The five incidents is the highest monthly number in the Phillip Channel since January, the centre said.
In all the incidents, the perpetrators were not armed, and no confrontation or injury was reported. In most cases, unspecified items were stolen.
The IFC said two incidents on 21 November happened within two hours and half a nautical mile apart, suggesting they were carried out by the same group.
Last month, seven men suspected of targeting shipping in the Singapore Strait were detained by Indonesian authorities following a tip off from Singapore.
The IFC said it “facilitated actionable information” that led to the capture of robbers who had boarded a tug and barge to steal scrap metal.
The Indonesian international liaison officer at the IFC immediately relayed the information to the Indonesian Navy’s operation centre.
The navy then collaborated with Indonesian Marine Police, which deployed vessels to investigate.
The IFC says there have been 51 boardings and one attempted boarding of commercial vessels in the Singapore Strait this year.
More than half of the ships targeted have been bulkers, while one-quarter were tugs and barges. Tankers make up the remaining targets.
Based on the incident reports this year, in most cases the perpetrators avoided confrontation and fled immediately on being sighted by crew members, according to the IFC.
Perpetrators are usually unarmed, in groups of four to six people, using small boats to target slow-moving vessels with low freeboard.
Established in 2009, the IFC describes itself as a regional maritime security centre situated at the Changi Command & Control Centre.
