The233,016-dwt Ore Vitoria (built 1989) was boarded by four men in the early hoursof 28 May while underway southwest of Nipa Anchorage.
Reports saynothing was stolen from the Liberian-flagged ship and the crew was unharmed,but the robbers managed to escape.
About fourhours later a Malaysian-registered tug, the Kien San 1, towing the barge KienSan 8, was boarded by four men.
The twovessels were loaded with scrap metal underway northwest of Nipa Anchorage inthe westbound lane when the incident occurred.
The four menescaped despite the Singapore Police Coast Guard deploying a patrol craft tothe location of the incident.
Less than 24hours later what is believed to be the same four men boarded a Vinalineshandysize bulker underway southwest of Nipa Anchorage.
The robbersare reported to have entered the engine room of the 23,724-dwt Eastern Star(built 1994) but failed to steel any equipment.
Details ofthe three incidents came in an alert from Regional Cooperation Agreement onCombating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) InformationSharing Centre.
“Includingthese three latest incidents, a total of 14 incidents involving ships whileunderway have been reported in the vicinity this year,” ReCAAP said.
“It ispossible that the robbers had boarded one vessel after another when they wereunsuccessful in stealing anything from the previous boarding.”
Three vesselshave been targeted by what is suspected to be the same gang of robbers in lessthan a week off Singapore.
In early March two crude tankers and a capesize bulker were targeted byrobbers within the vicinity of Nipa Anchorage within a few days of each other.
The shipsinvolved were the 107,506-dwt tanker SeaVoyager (built 2009), the 167,282-dwt tanker Orpheas (built 2007) andthe capesize bulker Cape Veni(built 2007).
ReCAAP said it encourages all vessels to enhancevigilance while transiting the area and to report all incidents to the nearestcoastal state.
