It said the number of siphoning attacks had escalated since April 2014, with 15 attempts in the region last year.
ReCaap said it is concerned by the trend and has been working closely with the shipping industry, government agencies and international organisations to highlight best practice in combating the threat.
Crew are often locked up and communication equipment smashed during the attacks, carried out on small tankers in hours of darkness by men carrying guns and knives
ReCaap has identified at least three organised groups of pirates carrying out the attacks and said crime syndicates are also likely to be involved.
It drew this conclusion from the arrest in September by Singapore police of 53 men engaging in illegal ship fuel trading.
“Most of these cases were insider-jobs involving the crew who siphoned fuel/oil from their own vessel,” it said.
ReCaap added that where ships were taken to another location to transfer bunkers to a second vessel, syndicates and organised groups would need to have good knowledge or insider information.
This included knowledge of the route and the type of siphoning equipment onboard the vessel, as well as a preferred location for siphoning so as to avoid authorities, plus an infrastructure for storage and sale of the oil.
From speaking to some shipping companies, ReCaap said it was informed that “some groups have connections and belong to well-organised syndicates which sell illegally siphoned fuel/oil or employ middle men as distribution channels, either a wholesaler or retailer themselves, to sell the stolen fuel/oil.”
ReCaap has called for more effective risk analysis of voyages.
It advised owners to conduct regular background checks on crew and review the composition of master and crew “in the event that the same person or group of crew was involved in previous piracy or armed robbery incidents.”
It also identified a “dire need to strengthen national coordination among the littoral states through their respective enforcement agencies to curb illegal siphoning activities.”
