Piracy in Southeast Asia
“It is likely that piracy in Southeast Asia will continue for years to come…”
Piracy in Southeast Asia
When we think of piracy, Somalia and the 2013 Hollywood movie Captain Phillips comes to mind. It’s the story about the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama in 2009 and the capture of its American Captain. What many fail to know is that the West Indian Ocean is not the world’s most dangerous seas. In 2014, the United Nations declared Southeast Asia seas as perilous. Piracy has always been endemic in Southeast Asia and it is showing no sign of abating.
Piracy is responsible not only for the rising economic and financial damage to countries and the international shipping industry. Fraud, stolen cargoes, delayed trips and increase insurance premiums are consequences of piracy.”
Southeast Asia is home to vital shipping lanes such as the South China Sea and the Malacca Straits and in fact approximately one third of the global trade passes through one of the world’s “most important and strategic choke point”. With its complex coastlines, it is one of the world’s busiest trade routes. The waterways between Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia have long been prone to piracy and piracy is now in the ascendant in Southeast Asia.
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Source: lexology.com
