Blue Security: A Maritime Affairs Series - Issue 4

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a global health and economic crisis, causing national restrictions leading to far-reaching implications for maritime transport and trade.

Restrictions and the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic disrupted ports, the fishing and shipping sector as well as the network of supply chains. This research examines the link between COVID-19 and increasing maritime piracy trends in Southeast Asia, a resulting spill over of socio-economic impacts on coastal and fishing communities. Drawing on piracy trend data collected by the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre between 2019 and 2022, we find piracy and sea robbery attacks have been rising in the Singapore Strait since 2019, and look to routine activity theory to explain the spike in maritime piracy in the region.

Maritime piracy has existed since the emergence of seaborne trade, and Southeast Asia is no exception. Since World War Two, Asia established itself as an important global and economic centre of the world economy and a hub for 90% of the world’s seaborne trade. Globalisation paralleled with factors such as unsustainable economic growth, economic crises, and political disruptions resulted in subsequent increases of piracy and armed robbery attacks. We refer to piracy as collectively defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and mirrored in the 2010 International Maritime Organization’s definition of piracy and armed robbery against ships. Using piracy as an umbrella term, we define it as violent acts that take place on the high seas and within a state’s internal waters, for private gains. The broader definition envelopes those criminal activities within and beyond territorial waters, reflecting the occurrence of Southeast Asian attacks.

Piracy has wide-ranging implications on security and safety at sea and on land. Securing Southeast Asia against piracy is paramount given its strategic shipping transit routes, network of port hubs, and important fishing grounds. However, it remains a threat, especially in the hotspots around Singapore and Indonesia. As such, we look to Cohen and Felson’s routine activity theory to explain its occurrence. The theory implies that the triangulation of three elements lead to a crime: (1) the presence of motivated offenders; (2) access to suitable targets; and (3) absence of capable guardians. This theory has been successfully tested across crimes (including maritime piracy) to explain their occurrence, which can in turn assist policymakers in determining how to prevent them.

In alignment with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8 (decent work and economic growth), 14 (life below water), and 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) the uptick in piracy and its impact on Southeast Asia and beyond can be economically, politically, and socially damaging and therefore it should be among the core issues addressed by maritime security policy for the region. It is within this context we question the relationship between rising piracy in Southeast Asia, with particular focus on Singapore and Indonesia, and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We approached this research question from three prongs. First, we thematically analysed relevant literature to revisit known motivations of piracy specific to Singapore and Indonesia. In Section 2, we analysed reported piracy attacks the year immediately prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, between 2019 and 2022, to understand their targets. Coupling known causes and piracy trends, we inferred in Section 3 that COVID-19 led to an uptick of maritime piracy in Southeast Asia, and specifically within the Singapore Strait. We again drew on relevant literature to confirm this link between COVID-19 and piracy in the Singapore Strait and the waters around Indonesia due to absence of capable guardians and increased motivation.