Reported incidents of piracy in Southeast Asia have declined for the third consecutive month, latest industry figures purportedly show.

Only seven incidents were reported in November according to the Singapore-based the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre.

This is the lowest reported level in the past twelve months and down significantly from August's high of 25 incidents.

“Compared to October 2015, there has been a 53% decrease in number of incidents reported in November 2015,” ReCAAP said.

“Of the seven incidents reported in November 2015, six were actual incidents and one was an attempted incident. No piracy incident was reported.”

November was also the third consecutive to see no incidents of vessel hijackungs for the purposes of siphoning off fuel oil cargoes.

The last such incident reported was that involving the 3,500-dwt bunker tanker Joaquim (built 1995) in the Malacca Strait in August.

For the year-to-date the total number of reached 183 incidents comprising 170 actual and 13 attempted incidents had been reported.

November also saw a significant improvement in the number of incidents in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS).

Last month saw just one attempted incident reported in the SOMS, involving the tug boat Salvigilant towing the barge Poe Giant 1 while underway in the westbound lane of Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS).

A small boat attempted to board the barge by coming alongside, but aborted boarding when the master raised the alarm immediately.

“Notably, this is the first time in 2015 when no incident of robbery was reported on board ships while underway in the eastbound lane of the SOMS,” ReCAAP said.

“We encourage the littoral States, in particular Indonesian authorities to continue with their efforts in stepping up surveillance and enforcement in the area.

“However, more needs to be done at certain ports and anchorages where the port authorities and enforcement agencies need to enhance their surveillance; and ship masters and crew to maintain stringent watch-keeping while their ships were anchored there.

“Whilst the numbers had declined, consolidated efforts to address regional situation with regional stakeholders are underway.”