A Japanese handysize bulker was targeted by pirates while transiting the Straits of Malacca and Singapore on Monday.
The incident took place at around 02:34 local time in position 1° 7.6' N, 103°45.27' E at about 1.3nm west-north-west off Helen Mar Reef.
While underway, the crew of the 33,200-dwt Star lily (built 2008) sighted four perpetrators armed with machetes, boarding the vessel from a small craft.
The alarm was raised, accommodation area secured and anti-piracy measures activated on board. The perpetrators later escaped emptyhanded. No crewmembers were injured.
Details of the incident were disclosed in the latest anti-piracy report published by the Singapore-based Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre.
Reports of piracy or robbery in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore have become very infrequent, but do still take place.
In the early hours of 4 May a Navios Group-owned VLCC – the 247,491-dwt Nave Buena Suerte (built 2011) – was targeted by pirates.
Six perpetrators armed with knives boarded the vessel and at one stage confronted the ship’s 2nd engineer in the engine room.
However, the robbers later escaped empty handed from the Hong Kong-flagged ship. There were no reports of an injuries to the ship’s crew.
