U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence Worldwide Threat to Shipping (WTS) Report 6 February - 6 March 2019 and HORN OF AFRICA/GULF OF GUINEA/ SOUTHEAST ASIA: Piracy Analysis and Warning Weekly (PAWW) Report for 28 February - 6 March 2019

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Malacca Strait and South China Sea Piracy: Cargo Theft from Tankers

Incident 1: 17 Apr 14

:
A couple of reports of similar activities involving product theft.

A week ago, this interesting tale of armed robbery and product theft from the ICC's Live Piracy and Armed Robbery Report

Location detail: 26NM SSW of Pulau Aur
Type of Attack: Hijacked
Narrations:
17.04.2014: 2010 LT: Posn: 01:59.8N – 104:25.4E, 26NM SSW of Pulau Aur, Malaysia.
A product tanker was boarded and hijacked by around 16 heavily armed pirates who then transferred and stole part of the fuel cargo into smaller unknown tankers. Crew and ship properties were stolen and ship communication equipment damaged. Master and crew managed to repair the damage and proceed to a safe port.

Yesterday, there is this Al Jazeera report:

Armed pirates stole $2.5 million worth of diesel fuel from an oil tanker off the coast of Malaysia and took the captain and two other crew members with them, underscoring increasing threats to shipping in one of the world's busiest waterways, Malaysian maritime officials said Wednesday.
***
Eight Indonesian pirates in a fishing vessel boarded the Naniwa Maru No. 1 at about 1 a.m. local time on Tuesday off the coast of western Malaysia, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said.

The pirates pumped about 800,000 gallons of the 1.18 million gallons of diesel carried by the tanker into two waiting vessels and made off with three Indonesian crew members, including the captain and chief engineer, the agency said.
***
Malaysian shipping authorities believe some of the crew could have been part of the plot to steal the diesel.

"There is a possibility that the abducted crew was involved in the hijack based on new leads and that their personal documents, clothes and belongings were taken along with them," the MMEA said in a news release.

A Reuters report:

"We are very concerned," said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's Malaysia-based Piracy Reporting Centre, who added the ship was hijacked while sailing near the Malaysia town of Port Klang.

"It's the first time this has happened so far north in the Malacca Strait, and the first time they have kidnapped the crew. It's not an area where we have seen the modus operandi of ships hijacked for their cargo," he told Reuters.

Incident 2: 22 Apr 14

And the ICC Live Piracy and Armed Robbery Report:

Location detail: 3NM WNW OF ONE FATHOM BANK, OFF PORT KLANG,
Type of Attack: Hijacked
Narrations:
22.04.2014: 0055 LT: Posn: 02:59N – 100:54E, 3NM WNW of One Fathom Bank, off Port Klang, Malacca Strait.
A tanker was boarded and hijacked by around 10 heavily armed pirates who then transferred and stole part of the fuel cargo into smaller unknown tankers. Crew and ship properties were stolen and ship communication equipment damaged. The pirates kidnapped three crew members and escaped. The vessel and remaining crew safely arrived at a port.

So, does two make a pattern?

An interesting amount of logistics involved in getting the smaller tankers to the right place at the right time, I would think. You might think of it as organized crime. I wonder if they took lessons from folks in Nigeria?

Meanwhile in the West Philippine Sea, China deploys ship to disputed islands

From the Manila Times: China deploys ship to disputed islands and Filipinos protest:

China on Thursday said that it had sent a maritime patrol vessel to disputed islands and surrounding waters of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) but insisted that it remains committed to peace in the region despite tensions with its neighbors.

Beijing had pledged that it would not resort to force to resolve lingering maritime territorial rows over the contested islands and waters, after the Philippines this week sought help from the United States and Vietnam staged live-fire military exercises in contrasting moves to assert their claims to the territories.
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China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia have competing claims to the Spratlys.

Beijing and Hanoi are at odds over the Paracels.

The area has commercial shipping lanes that are vital for global trade.

Tensions between China and other rival claimants escalated in recent weeks, with the Philippines and Vietnam in particular expressing alarm at what they say are increasingly aggressive actions by China in the disputed islands and waters.

A day before Beijing deployed the Haixun 31 to the West Philippine Sea, Manila announced that it had removed foreign markers in the Spratlys in an apparent muscle-flexing of its own.

The Philippine Navy on Wednesday said that it took out the markers, whose ownerships it did not establish, in May this year.

On Thursday, it called the removal of the markers a form of active defense on the part of the Philippines.

Rear Admiral Alexander Pama, Navy flag officer-in-command, said that they have responsibilities to protect the country’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.

The Philippine Navy, together with the Philippine Coast Guard, according to Pama, would continue patrolling the contested islands round the clock.

A good deal of background at China: "The Cow's Tongue" and the links therein.

Strait of Malacca Pirates: 2 sailors kidnapped

In recent years, the Strait of Malacca has shown a large decrease in reported piracy, but there is still danger out there, as reported here:

'A Singapore-managed tug and barge was attacked in the Malacca Strait on February 19 in the afternoon,' a maritime source familiar with the incident told AFP.

'About 12 pirates armed with guns attacked the tug and barge and kidnapped two crew members as the vessel was en route to Singapore,' he said, adding that the rest of the crew and the boat were not seized.

The nationality of the sailors was not known, and neither was it known whether negotiations to secure the release of the pair have begun.

Kidnapping of crew members for ransom is a frequent form of piracy in the Strait of Malacca.

UPDATE: There are predictions that piracy will be on the rise in the Strait of Malacca. See here which point to the down turn in the economy as a factor. In January 2009, a ReCAAP report suggested that pirates may be shifting their operations to less well patrolled areas, especially off the southeast coast of Jahor and Tioman Island. See here.

Malaysian Police Take Out Indonesian Pirates

Reported as Marine police in shootout with pirates:

Marine police believe they have crippled an Indonesian pirate gang that has been preying on vessels along the Straits of Malacca after a shootout early Monday morning.

Seven men were arrested, one of whom was shot in the midriff, while three others escaped after a 30-minute chase at Tanjung Gemuk in Sedili at about 3am.

The suspected pirates were armed with pistols, parang (machetes) and even hand grenades. None of the marine police were injured.
***
He said the pirates operated by first contacting shipping companies on the pretext of selling fuel. They would then go to sea and rendezvouz with the ships to purportedly begin the fuel transfer. Instead, they would board the ship and hold the crew at gunpoint before robbing them of cash and belongings.

“They leave the vessels and cargo behind,” he said, adding that this time marine police, with the assistance of the shipping companies, were waiting in ambush in Sedili.

“When the pirates arrived in a speedboat, our five-men team tried to flag them down but instead the suspects lobbed three grenades at my team,” Supt Mohd Kamsani said. Only one of the grenades exploded.

Police then fired several shots at the boat’s engine.