Co-operation approach makes high-seas hijackings harder

Greater involvement of Asian governments in combatting piracy is making it harder for pirates to hijack a ship and dispose of its cargo.

Hong Kong Shipowners' Association director Arthur Bowring said governments on the mainland, Indonesia and Japan now had piracy firmly on their agendas and were working closely to tackle the problem.

'The Japanese Government has set up a direct communication system with coast guards of individual countries through the International Maritime Bureau [IMB] to tackle piracy, instead of going through the usual diplomatic channels between governments that usually took a long time,' he said.

There was a huge public outcry when the Japanese tanker Global Mars became the third serious hijacking involving Japanese-owned ships. It followed attacks on cargo ships Alondra Rainbow and Tenyu after they left the Indonesian port of Kuala Tanjong in October last year and September 1998 respectively.

The Global Mars was attacked by 20 pirates armed with automatic rifles on February 24, two days after leaving Port Klang in Malaysia with a cargo of 6,000 tonnes of palm oil products. Eight of the pirates took control of the tanker while the remaining 12 transferred the crew to a large fishing boat where they were blindfolded and held hostage for 13 days.

Mr Bowring said the Global Mars was spotted near Hong Kong and the authorities were alerted. A number of planes were launched to search for the vessel and when it was spotted in mainland waters, the Beijing authorities were notified, resulting in the arrest of the vessel. The ship has since been returned to its owner with some of the cargo still on board.

The Alondra Rainbow was also similarly recovered by Indian authorities last year.