The Straits of Malacca and Singapore (SOMS) – a vital shipping artery linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans – have already seen 72 incidents of armed robbery reported this year, according to the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre. This surpasses the 62 recorded in all of last year and the 63 recorded in 2023.
“The rate of increased armed robbery incidents recorded in the SOMS is considered high,” Jasmine Lam, a maritime chair professor at the Technical University of Denmark, told This Week in Asia. “Given the strategic importance of the SOMS, the trend is of concern because disruptions affect not only shipping operators, but also producers and traders.”
About one-third of global traded goods pass through the 900km (560 miles) long straits, which at their narrowest span less than 20km across. The waters are plied daily by vessels transporting oil, container cargo, vehicles and dry bulk commodities.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, the straits are also the world’s most critical oil transit choke point by volume, with 23.7 million barrels per day passing through in 2023.
Data from London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has also shown that the number of vessels going through the straits has risen slightly over the past two years.
