The seas around the Strait of Malacca and Singapore have become safer, a situation experts attribute to increased enforcement against pirates in what is one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

There has been just one reported case of piracy or robbery in the Malacca Strait in the first 11 months of this year, according to the latest monthly report of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre.

It is a reversal of the situation last year, when these crimes in the strait shot up to 104, a sharp rise from 48 in 2014.

Almost half the world’s total seaborne trade passes through the strait each year. There were, however, 77 piracy or robbery incidents for the whole of Asia in the first 11 months of this year, a 60 per cent annual plunge from 193.

… Oil siphoning from vessels had been, until recently, a major issue particularly in the Strait of Malacca, said Dr Collin Koh, research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ maritime security programme.

One reason for the plunge in attacks on oil tankers is that both Malaysia and Indonesia have set up special taskforces to tackle such piracy in the Malacca Strait, said Dr Koh.

“Nowadays we see better coordination and cooperation among the littoral states,” he added, pointing out that the maritime industry has also adopted security measures.