It is reported that the "Asian Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery of Ships" (ReCaap) recently disclosed multiple robber incidents near Manila Port, including Maersk, CMA CGM, WanHai, and ONE Vessels.

On August 4, three suspects were found on the front deck of a container ship named “Seaspan New York”. One of the suspects attempted to stab a crew member who approaching them failed, but the crew member was then tied up by the suspect. The suspect broke the padlock on the forecastle, stole 2 portable welding machines with cables, 20 refrigerated cables, 3 copper nozzles, and 5 fire hydrant covers.

The abducted crew member untied himself and reported the incident to the bridge.

According to the data, Seaspan New York is a large container ship owned by independent shipowner Seaspan and repeatedly leased to major liner companies around the world. It was leased by ONE at the time of the incident.

On August 13, when the watchman on a container ship named “CMA CGM Caimep” was heading to the forecastle (starboard), he was threatened with a gun by a suspect. At the same time, four other accomplices of the suspect appeared and forced the watchman to take them going to the storage room; the suspect tied the hand of the watchman and stole 20 buckets of paint from the storage room.

Then the captain of the ship summoned the crew, searched the ship, found and released the watchman, a few minutes later, several suspects fled the ship in a small boat.

According to the data of the large sailing schedule, “CMA CGM Caimep” departed from Dalian through Qingdao, Hong Kong, Yantian, Shekou and other domestic ports, and was subsequently attacked while berthing at the Port of Manila.

It is worth mentioning that in the earlier June and July, another 5 container ships operated by CMA CGM subsidiary APL, Maersk and Wanhai Shipping were also robbed or stolen at the anchorage.

RECAAP has warned of a growing number of such robberies in Manila anchorage.“Ship masters and crew are strongly advised to exercise vigilance, maintain constant look-out for suspicious boats and report all incidents immediately to the local authorities. It is also very important for the crew not to engage in a confrontation with the perpetrators.”