Borneo shipowners association calls for cooperation among countries to combat sea piracy

Yong (10th left) poses for a group photo with the forum participants.

SIBU (Sept 15): The various agencies in every country and region should share responsibility and cooperate to ensure maritime security within their exclusive economic zones for safety and trade.

Chairman of Sarawak and Sabah Shipowners Association (SSSA), Yong Ing Huong, said this is vital to help prevent pirate attack on ships which is on the rise of late.

How ships draw up anti-piracy mechanisms, detect early identification of the risk of pirate attacks and take appropriate anti-piracy and emergency measures is very crucial preventive preparation before any ship enters the high risk areas, he added.

Yong was speaking at the opening of the anti-piracy forum which is co-organised with Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) held here yesterday.

Judging from the current situation, Yong said ship piracy and armed robbery risk are among the most prominent risks in the non-traditional field of ship safety.

Therefore, a lot of work is still very much needed to deter ship piracy and armed robbery,” he said, adding they must not be lax and leave things to chance.

We must look closely into the problems and evaluate the options in preventing ship piracy and armed robbery.

We must prioritise on protecting crew safety and constantly study new situations and review solutions and plans.

Based on the existing measures to prevent ship piracy and armed robbery incidents, further vigilant supervision and management, collection of intelligence information, stringent risk assessment and early warning and preventive works are needed to ensure more effectiveness of deterrent work.

Explaining further, Yong said the sudden outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic which swept the world in early 2020 had brought about serious repercussions on the social and economic aspects of countries around the world.

As a result, this has also led to the number of pirates in some relatively backward countries to mushroom, causing incidents of piracy and armed robbery to increase as the global economic situation continues to deteriorate.

He said international organisations had issued statements calling on ships from all countries to sound the alarm and gear up monitoring and resistance to the modus operandi of pirates.

On the forum, Yong said the purpose was to update on anti-piracy related information and recent regional maritime developments.

We are grateful to ReCAAP for its regular visits to various parts of the world, providing valuable insights and hopefully, this forum can provide everyone the much-needed information to create opportunities for safe and sustainable operations.