Asia/Pacific News
Singapore: Ocean Tankers to Boost Security Following Bunker Pirate Attacks
Singapore-based Ocean Tankers says it plans to strengthen its anti-piracy measures after two of its vessels were attacked by bunker pirates in incidents that took place less than eight months apart, IHS Maritime reports.
On September 22, 2014 the oil products tanker Ocean Osprey was said to have been attacked while en route from Singapore to Myanmar, while the second attack took place on May 2, 2015 off of Port Dickson, Malaysia.
In the most recent attack, eight pirates were said to have boarded the Ocean Energy armed with firearms and siphoned 2,023 tonnes of gas oil to an adjacent barge, damaged the communication equipment, and stole the crew's cash, mobile phones, and the vessel's Iridium phone.
The ship's master and crew were reported to have been locked up by the pirates for the duration of the theft, but no one was hurt during the incident which was said to be the the fifth fuel siphoning case reported this year.
"Ocean Tankers strongly condemns this kind of attack on shipping and upon innocent seafarers," a spokesman for Ocean Tankers told IHS Maritime.
"Right after we learnt about this incident, we sent a security alert to our entire fleet to tighten security procedures, and we reminded them to follow our procedures strictly with additional look-out and raised awareness."
The company also says it is working closely with authorities in Malaysia and Singapore to investigate the situation and improve safety, although they did not provide details about the measures the company currently has in place.
"We are currently reviewing our security procedures to see how we can further improve these, and our main purpose is to ensure the total safety of all our crews no matter where they sail," the spokesperson said.
In April, the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau reported that on average one coastal tanker is hijacked by pirates in South East Asia every two weeks.
