SINGAPORE – Twenty minutes. That’s how quickly the Police Coast Guard (PCG) can get to the site of any incident in Singapore’s territorial waters once they have been alerted.
This is according to the PCG’s head of operations and security Superintendent Lee Ting Wei, who was speaking at the Anti-Piracy and Sea Robbery Conference 2024 on April 16.
The quick response time enables the PCG to arrive on the scene promptly if a potential target reports suspicious activity, before any attempted boarding by pirates take place.
Supt Lee was part of a panel exploring new ways of adapting to the changing maritime environment, including ways to combat the threat of piracy and sea robbery in regional waters, in particular the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
He said that the PCG adopts a three-prong approach to maritime security in Singapore’s waters: deterrence, detection and response.
It conducts boat patrols on a 24/7 basis, with more boats at night, as most sea piracy cases take place under the cover of darkness. Some of the patrol boats can reach speeds of 55 knots.
The patrols serve to deter potential illicit activities at sea, detect any attempts by pirates to board their target vessels, and respond to any actual robberies at sea.
The PCG’s detection and response efforts have resulted in several successes, notably the recent discovery and arrest of nine men who had boarded a moving barge off Kusu Island. They were in the act of stealing scrap metal when they were caught.
Supt Lee said the PCG has resumed coordinated patrols with Indonesia’s Directorate General of Customs and Excise since May 2023, and has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian Maritime Security Agency to improve information sharing.
These coordinated patrols ensure that any vessels conducting illicit activity would not be able to escape by leaving Singapore’s territorial waters and the PCG’s jurisdiction, he added.
The conference was organised by the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), and held at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre.
ReCAAP, formalised in 2004, is the first and only regional government-to-government agreement to promote and enhance cooperation to suppress piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia.
It established an information sharing centre in Singapore in 2006 to enhance regional cooperation through its three pillars: information sharing, capacity building and cooperative arrangements.
There were 11 armed robberies at sea in the Strait of Singapore from January to March 2024, all of which took place in Indonesian waters, according to ReCAAP’s latest quarterly report on piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia.
