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[Phoenix]

(CNN) -- Vietnamese authorities are searching for an oil tanker feared to have been taken by pirates just 40 minutes after it departed Singapore for Vietnam almost one week ago.
The Sunrise 689 was carrying 18 crew and 5,200 tonnes of oil when it left Singapore's Horizon port on October 2, according to the Vietnamese News Service (VNS).

The ship's owner, the Hai Phong Seafood Shipbuilding Join Stock Company, reported that it lost contact with the ship within an hour of its departure, VNS said.
VNS reported that Vietnam's Foreign Ministry had sent "diplomatic notes" to the embassies of Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia in Hanoi, asking for assistance in finding the missing ship.

Piracy rising in Asia
Southeast Asia has become a prime target for pirates who have staged a number "serious attacks" on tankers in the region, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).
According to a report released in July, there had been at least six known hijackings since April, when small coastal tankers were targeted for their cargo of diesel or gas oil.
"The recent increase in the number of successful hijackings is a cause for concern," IMB director Pottengal Mukundanm said at the time.

Until this year, most attacks had been petty thefts perpetrated on boats anchored at harbor, the IMB said.

The missing ship, Sunrise 689, was last detected in the middle of a busy shipping zone in the Singapore Strait.

According to warnings issued by the IMB, vessels in the Singapore Strait are advised to "remain vigilant and to continue maintaining adequate anti-piracy / robbery watch and measures. Pirates / robbers attack ships while underway or while at anchor especially during the night."

Sunrise 689 had been expected to arrive at Con Son island in southern Vietnam on Sunday, October 5, VNS said.

It seems that piracy is actually on the rise and the pirates are getting bolder and going after bigger game in riskier waters. What is really being done to combat the growing threat from piracy as it seems that they aren't really avoiding shipping lanes all that much any more.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Perhaps there is money to be made here as a private security contractor?
Is this the excuse big corporations will use to draft private armies?

 

[benjipwns]

It seems that piracy is actually on the rise

At least this means global warming is going to reverse.

 

[Lactose_Intolerant]

At least this means global warming is going to reverse.

ramen

 

[Booshka]

Perhaps there is money to be made here as a private security contractor?
Is this the excuse big corporations will use to draft private armies?

Send in Bill O' Reilly's Expendables force, let them wet their whistle, earn some capital then take the fight/stolen oil to ISIS. Whichever is the most profitable, of course.

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

I am about to go to bed, but I work in maritime security, specifically with singapore. That particular location off that southeast coast of malaysia is a pretty big hotspot for attacks on tankers. Believe it or not though piracy in that region had been on a downward trend for a long time, particularly in the straits of malacca. I had been following this somewhat, but I have been busy. I'll see if I can pull up some vessel history data in the morning.

 

[NJDEN]

The ship's owner, the Hai Phong Seafood Shipbuilding Join Stock Company, reported that it lost contact with the ship within an hour of its departure, VNS said.
VNS reported that Vietnam's Foreign Ministry had sent "diplomatic notes" to the embassies of Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia in Hanoi, asking for assistance in finding the missing ship.

Not to make light of a serious situation, but this sounds like the plot to a sci-fi game, just pretend its in space or something.

Hopefully the crew is safe and the company gets its assets back.

 

[Phoenix]

I am about to go to bed, but I work in maritime security, specifically with singapore. That particular location off that southeast coast of malaysia is a pretty big hotspot for attacks on tankers. Believe it or not though piracy in that region had been on a downward trend for a long time, particularly in the straits of malacca. I had been following this somewhat, but I have been busy. I'll see if I can pull up some vessel history data in the morning.

A winner is you!

 

[speculawyer]

At least this means global warming is going to reverse.

Indeed . . . they need to keep capturing oil tankers and then sink them.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Are the conditions generating southeast asian piracy comparable to what drove somali piracy (i.e. a collapsed government somewhere, ecological disasters crushing a fishing economy)? I've not read up on it.