Straits of Malacca/Singapore Emerge as Asia's Piracy Hotspot

The Straits of Malacca and Singapore have re-emerged as a piracy hotspot in Asia and the world in recent years, recording more than 100 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in 2025, according to the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia. The increase comes at a time when piracy in Africa has subsided and has only recently experienced a limited resurgence.

Other than in Africa, Asian waters are known for a larger volume, but often less serious attacks on ships. According to ReCAAP, armed perpetrators operating in small groups most often enter ships at night trying to steal valuables like spare engine parts, transported goods or even crew's personal items and disappear quickly. In Africa, full-scale ship hijackings have historically been more common. Nevertheless, the recent rise in incidents is a real worry for ships, especially when traveling through narrow straits that make them vulnerable for assaults by small boats. The cooperation, however, also reports that a recent law enforcement crackdown has brought numbers down since the second half of 2025 and into 2026.

Looking back, these crackdowns are not a new thing for Asian law enforcement. In 2016, piracy and armed robbery against ships was reduced by 58 percent across the region due to coordinated efforts by authorities around the Malacca Strait and campaigns in other countries too.

In the 2000s and 2010s, the South China Sea and surrounding nations the Philippines and Indonesia had still seen more incidents over time than the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. But not only is the South China Sea experiencing an increase level of militarization, the more professional networks of hijackers and robbers were also successfully suppressed by the authorities there. While in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, lower-level criminals are also pursued, enforcement efforts resemble a game of whack-a-mole, where arrests happen, but new perpetrators driven by economic hardship continue to emerge quickly. Bangladesh