Early this month, pirates released the hijacked MT Sunrise 689, a small
product tanker bound for Vietnam which went missing soon after it left
Singapore. During the captivity that lasted nearly six days, the pirates
siphoned 2,000 of the total 5,200 metric tons of oil valued at $4
million. They also stole the personal belongings of the crew and
threatened to kill if they did not follow orders – but assured them that
their only aim was to steal the oil carried onboard the vessel.
This is the 12th incident of piracy in Southeast Asia involving small
oil tankers. These vessels are easy targets because they are small, have
smaller crews, move at slow speeds, and the low freeboard makes
boarding comparatively easier and quicker. Perhaps the most worrying
aspect of these attacks is that pirates in Southeast Asia have taken a
liking for small product tankers carrying diesel that is sold to
prospective customers, who re-sell for anywhere between $400 and $650
per ton in the black market.
These pirates or robbers are popularly referred to as ‘Petro Pirates’
and are believed to be part of transnational organised crime groups who
own small tankers and are networked with the oil smuggling mafia.
Furthermore, these Petro Pirates appear to only steal cargo and not harm
the crew. For instance, in June 2014, pirates hijacked Orapin 4, a Thai
oil tanker, with its cargo of oil worth nearly $2.2 million; they stole
the oil, did not hurt the crew, but robbed them of watches, cell
phones, money and other valuables. Similarly, in April 2014, pirates
raided a tanker off the coast of Malaysia and stole 3 million liters of
diesel. In fact the business model of Petro Pirates’ does not appear to
include ransoms.
Interestingly, a similar story is being played out along the west coast
of Africa but on a larger scale. Early this year, MT Kerala, a 75,000
ton tanker carrying diesel was hijacked by Nigerian pirates off the
Angolan coast. The vessel was released after being siphoned of 12,270
tons of its diesel cargo. The pirates took the usual precautions of
disabling the Automatic Identification System, switching off
communications, and repainting the name of the vessel.
The International Maritime Bureau’s half year report for January to June
2014 recorded 23 incidents off the west coast of Africa, and Nigerian
waters has witnessed 10 such attacks. These trends are a continuation of
the past reports and the UK Chamber of Shipping records state that acts
of piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea are worrisome – 62
attacks in 2012; 51 in 2013. The Gulf of Guinea accounted for 19 per
cent of all maritime attacks worldwide. Significantly, the Gulf of
Guinea is believed to be a greater threat to shipping than Somalia
because of its flourishing oil and gas industry which attracts shipping,
unlike Somalia, where pirates preyed on targets of opportunity along
the busy sea route.
The West African piracy is driven by a commodity – oil – which is
available in abundance. For instance, Nigeria is an oil-rich country and
produces nearly 2 million barrels of oil per day. However, it has
limited refining capacity resulting in both export of crude and import
of refined oil thus generating sufficient maritime traffic for pirates
to feed on.
Unlike Nigeria, Singapore does not produce any oil but is the hub of the
Asian petrochemicals industry with a sophisticated refining, storage,
and distribution infrastructure, and therefore attracts significant
tanker traffic. A variety of large and small vessels carrying oil and
gas make port calls to deliver crude or carry refined products to
regional and global markets. According to the US Energy Information
Agency, the petrochemical industry is the backbone of Singapore's
economy and it has a refining capacity of nearly 1.4 million barrels of
oil per day.
The aforementioned incidents along the west coast of Africa and in
Southeast Asian waters offer an interesting feature. The business model
of piracy in both cases involves hijacking vessels for the cargo carried
onboard, and in particular, the refined energy products such as diesel.
It is plausible that pirates in Southeast Asia may have borrowed the
idea from West Africa – who appear to have become more sophisticated and
have graduated to hijacking bigger ships.
In essence, the pirates may not have changed their Modus Operandi
of attacking both small and big ships; instead they have become
cargo/commodity conscious and believe that stealing refined energy
products is more lucrative than waiting for ransoms. However, it is
useful to mention that the stolen oil or other products are carried in
smaller vessels that are equally vulnerable to interception by security
forces.
No comments:
Post a Comment