UGS Marsec Digest July 2014

SE Asia Map

An Update on Maritime Crime in SE Asia By Ilias Papadopoulos Master in International Relations & Strategic Studies   During June shipping community witnessed a sudden rise in maritime crimes in the SE Asia with a total of 21 attacks in one month time. Of course the region always produced high quantities of maritime crime, usually armed robberies and crime of minor to moderate significance, but last month’s events are recorded at least as of the densest in months. Despite that, if we quantify some indicators we will come to some useful conclusions. First of all, the prime countries that this outburst of maritime crime originated is Indonesia and Malaysia. Furthermore the majority of the vessels attacked were locally flagged and/or … Continue reading

UGS Weekly Digest 21 – 27 Apr 2014

SE Asia Incident

Maritime Security Report for SE Asia By Ilias Papadopoulos Master in International Relations & Strategic Studies                 Recently SE Asia has attracted international attention both in the case of Malaysian Airlines MH370, as well as the sinking of MV Sewol. But besides these major occurrences, in this past week we also had some developments in maritime security for the region.             Three incidents of armed robbery were reported and one hijacking. Of all these, the latter appears to be the most interesting; after all SE Asia has traditionally been a hive of piratical activity and a thriving business of armed robbery. But in 22/04, we had the second vessel hijack of the year and the first arrest of … Continue reading