Incidence of sea piracy in Bangladesh waters drops
Saturday, 11 April 2009
CHITTAGONG, April 10 (BSS): The crimes against vessels in Bangladesh waters have declined substantially when it has increased alarmingly around the globe in recent years.
International, regional and global forums at their recent meetings highly appreciated Bangladesh efforts in making safer its waters by combating sea piracy and other crimes with regards to vessels.
Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) officials claimed that
Bangladesh had achieved tremendous improvement in terms of number of incidents and the nature of grievousness of the crime in the sea.
According to the CPA, only 12 incidents of 'various natures' were recorded in 2008 compared to 18 in the previous year. The number was 27 in 2006, 28 in 2005, 54 in 2004 and 62 in 2003.
No armed robbery was recorded in 2008, while the number of rope snatching were nine, ship store theft was one, attacks on ship crew were only two, CPA officials said.
RECAAP, an Asian forum to combat sea piracy, at its governing council meeting in February and the International Association of Ports and Harbour at their meeting in March, both held in Singapore, lauded the development in Bangladesh and appreciated the combined efforts taken to tackle the incidents of piracy.
However, International Maritime Bureau (IMB), a Malaysia-based maritime crime watchdog cautiously admitted the improvement in Bangladesh but noting that the area was still listed as one of very high risk.
"Pirates are targeting ships preparing to anchor. Most attacks are reported at Chittagong anchorages and approaches," it observed.
Talking to the news agency, Captain Arif Mahmud, member (Harbour and Marine) of CPA, said the country had gained significant development in the sea piracy situation following successful implementation of International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code) -- a mandatory security compliance set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a UN body, and concerted efforts of various organisations including the navy and coastguard.
The IMB in its report titled "Piracy prone areas and warnings" has identified Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malacca Straits, Malaysia, Singapore Straits, South China Sea, Philippine, Vietnam, Africa and Gulf of Eden, Nigeria, Tanzania, Somalia, Brazil and Arabia Sea as the most sea piracy risks zones.
The IMB in its annual global piracy report released in mid January last said the northern Somali coast was the most vulnerable area in the Gulf of Aden where Somali pirates armed with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades (RPG) were attacking vessels frequently for realising ransom for hijacked vessels and their crews.
"Bangladesh (Chittagong) and Tanzania (Dar es Salaam) have shown a few similarities in the method of attacks with vessels at anchor and those were approaching the anchorage targeted," the IMB report published in its website said.
Robbers in Chittagong mainly steals ship stores while in Dar es Salaam, the cargo is the target.
Of the 14 vessels attacked in Dar es Salaam, 12 were container ships, the report said noting that "Bangladesh has shown a slight increase in the number of attacks (12) compared to last year (10).
International, regional and global forums at their recent meetings highly appreciated Bangladesh efforts in making safer its waters by combating sea piracy and other crimes with regards to vessels.
Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) officials claimed that
Bangladesh had achieved tremendous improvement in terms of number of incidents and the nature of grievousness of the crime in the sea.
According to the CPA, only 12 incidents of 'various natures' were recorded in 2008 compared to 18 in the previous year. The number was 27 in 2006, 28 in 2005, 54 in 2004 and 62 in 2003.
No armed robbery was recorded in 2008, while the number of rope snatching were nine, ship store theft was one, attacks on ship crew were only two, CPA officials said.
RECAAP, an Asian forum to combat sea piracy, at its governing council meeting in February and the International Association of Ports and Harbour at their meeting in March, both held in Singapore, lauded the development in Bangladesh and appreciated the combined efforts taken to tackle the incidents of piracy.
However, International Maritime Bureau (IMB), a Malaysia-based maritime crime watchdog cautiously admitted the improvement in Bangladesh but noting that the area was still listed as one of very high risk.
"Pirates are targeting ships preparing to anchor. Most attacks are reported at Chittagong anchorages and approaches," it observed.
Talking to the news agency, Captain Arif Mahmud, member (Harbour and Marine) of CPA, said the country had gained significant development in the sea piracy situation following successful implementation of International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code) -- a mandatory security compliance set by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a UN body, and concerted efforts of various organisations including the navy and coastguard.
The IMB in its report titled "Piracy prone areas and warnings" has identified Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malacca Straits, Malaysia, Singapore Straits, South China Sea, Philippine, Vietnam, Africa and Gulf of Eden, Nigeria, Tanzania, Somalia, Brazil and Arabia Sea as the most sea piracy risks zones.
The IMB in its annual global piracy report released in mid January last said the northern Somali coast was the most vulnerable area in the Gulf of Aden where Somali pirates armed with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades (RPG) were attacking vessels frequently for realising ransom for hijacked vessels and their crews.
"Bangladesh (Chittagong) and Tanzania (Dar es Salaam) have shown a few similarities in the method of attacks with vessels at anchor and those were approaching the anchorage targeted," the IMB report published in its website said.
Robbers in Chittagong mainly steals ship stores while in Dar es Salaam, the cargo is the target.
Of the 14 vessels attacked in Dar es Salaam, 12 were container ships, the report said noting that "Bangladesh has shown a slight increase in the number of attacks (12) compared to last year (10).