Shipping: Asia Sees Uptick In Piracy

I always thought that pirates, by choosing to live outside the law, literally outlaws, opened themselves to being shot on sight.
But apparently not.
From Offshore Energy:

Maritime piracy on the rise in Asia
Asia is seeing an increase in incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships, according to a recent monthly report published by ReCAAP. The abduction of crew for ransom in the regional waters also remains a serious concern.

A total of eleven incidents — of which one was a piracy incident and ten armed robbery incidents — were reported in Asia in May 2020.

Two of the incidents occurred on board ships while at berth, six on board ships while at anchor and three of them on board ships while underway.

There was no reports of abduction of crew in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and waters off Eastern Sabah, Malaysia in May 2020. However, in the warning issued in late May, ReCAAP informed that a group of about five Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members armed with assorted firearms was planning to conduct abduction of crew activities in undisclosed areas off Sabah.

The ReCAAP ISC said it is also concerned about the continued occurrence of incidents on board ships while underway in the Singapore Strait. Three incidents were reported in May 2020....

....MORE

Lots of hidey-holes in that 'hood.

A couple years ago we had a story where the ship under attack in the Philippines Sea went all Medieval on the pirates:
Ship Repels Pirates With Boiling Water, Oil
Shades of the defeat of the Vikings at Chester.*

And we almost posted on the hapless pirates off Vietnam in an April ReCAAP ISC report
ReCAAP ISC Weekly Report (21-27 Apr 20) 

While at anchor, four perpetrators boarded the tanker via the forecastle from a wooden boat. The watchman noticed the perpetrators, reported to the duty officer and raised the general alarm. The perpetrators jumped overboard and escaped in the wooden boat. The crew conducted a search on board the ship and discovered that the forward store was opened with either a hammer or bolt cutter. The perpetrators stole 80 litres of deck red paint from the forward store. The crew was not injured. The incident was reported to Vung Tau Port Control.

But, funny as their lack of success was, this stuff is waaay too serious for cheap yucks.