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Though the waters off the coast of Somalia may be notorious as the hunting grounds of pirates, new reports say that waters off the coast of Southeast Asia could be becoming more risky for commercial shipping.

According to a report from global insurance firm Allianz, piracy is on the rise in waters close to Cambodian shipping lanes.

“Attacks in Southeast Asia continue to increase, with the region accounting for 60 percent of global incidents and Vietnam a new hotspot,” the Allianz report said.

The majority of the ships seized by pirates in the region were taken in the waters of the Malacca Strait, a shipping bottleneck where pirates have operated for centuries. But the increasing amount of piracy taking place off the coasts of Vietnam and Thailand could affect cargo bound for or from Cambodia.

According to a report by piracy reporting group ReCCAP, there were seven attacks by pirates on ships off the coast of Vietnam last year alone, and 2014 saw one engineer aboard a Vietnamese vessel shot and killed.

But Cambodian naval officials said they remain unconcerned about the possible threat of piracy to the country’s maritime trade.

“Nothing like that [piracy] has happened here, so I can’t say anything about what we do about it,” said a high-ranking official from naval headquarters in Preah Sihanouk province, who asked not to be named...
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24812/ ... ng-piracy/

Pirates will be disappointed when they board a ship leaving Cambodia . A cargo of unhusked rice , heading for China, or 38D bra's and 48'' waist size jeans heading for USA.
Inbound cargo would be more to a pirates taste , Lexus cars and Hennessy whisky could be worth stealing.

Being a Merchant Mariner for more years than I care to remember, stories about piracy seem to stick in my memory. A number of years ago, pirates attached and boarded a Russian ship. The Russians hauled out AK-47s and an RPG-7 and blew the pirates to Allah. (this happened in the Straits of Malacca in an Islamic country.) US ships are not allowed to carry weapons. (dumb law as are our legislators.)

Maritime security is a huge industry (tried it for a short time, hated it!), piracy is still a real threat in the major shipping channels

Sailorman wrote:Being a Merchant Mariner for more years than I care to remember, stories about piracy seem to stick in my memory. A number of years ago, pirates attached and boarded a Russian ship. The Russians hauled out AK-47s and an RPG-7 and blew the pirates to Allah. (this happened in the Straits of Malacca in an Islamic country.) US ships are not allowed to carry weapons. (dumb law as are our legislators.)

Do American merchant mariners give up their rights as American citizens, of the @#* amendment , to carry guns.?. Cannot see that happening in the Israeli shipping industry.

While according to Sailorman's huge legal knowledge guns are forbidden on merican ships, my neighbour a retired navy seal used to have videos in his phone where you can see and hear him amd his pals kill a somalian pirate while on paid holidays (I guess not on a merican ship for all it's worth).

If a vessel is transiting from and to a US port, they can get a DSP-73 Temporary permit which allows firearms aboard for 4 years, but under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations a person aboard a vessel going international is allowed to apply for a permit to have three semi-auto firearms and 1000 rounds of ammo and must be renewed each trip, but must abide by the laws of the country(s) the vessel enters. Its a real can of worms as far as paperwork goes.

The shipping companies (in America) won't go through all the paperwork and crews agree to not have firearms aboard, or they can be fired and prosecuted by the America government for not having a DSP-73 and/or the ITAR paperwork, but the company can contract to have a "security " company do all the paperwork, and have armed troops aboard. Most America companies, cruise ship companies and many other "flag of convenience" ship are too cheap to have armed protection.

Your friend who killed a Somalian pirate was probably firing from one of the "contract" support vessels private security companies have in the area. (The support vessel was probably flagged in a "Flag of Convenence" country. (Panama, Liberia, etc.)

"Knowledge is Power"

Many major shipping companies these days are required to have armed security on board whilst transiting through areas designated high risk for insurance purposes.

Heres a couple vids...

During the war with Vietnam and for many years afterwards, this coast right around to Thailand was a pirate haven that preyed upon Khmer and Viet refugees.
I seem to recall the perps were Thai mostly.

The islands in the Gulf have always been a place of self government and trafficking with little national jusrisdiction.
Even the Mekong sees a lot of unregulated movement of people and goods.

The big river and it's inhabitants are a very interesting study in migration and how difficult it is to police a riparian and oceanic environment.

I have toyed with the idea of a houseboat to tie up to the yonder bank somewhere. There is a lovely little floating guesthouse and restaurant over on the arey ksatr side.