Maritime Security
Armed Guards

The main area of heightened Piracy/ Terrorist/ Armed Robbery activity in Southeast Asia is within the area of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, the Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea and Makassar/ Malacca/ Singapore Straits. The Politically charged piracy/ Armed Robbery in the Eastern Region around the Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea and Makassar/ Malacca/ Singapore Straits, from groups such as Abu Sayyaf will almost certainly continue for years to come. This area is extremely hard to police as the many thousands of islands in the region offer effective hiding places for the criminals and terrorists operating in the Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea and Makassar/ Malacca/ Singapore Straits.

Until now the only alternatives for shipowners, Yacht and Superyacht owners has been to either accept the extremely high risk of sailing unprotected through the areas such as the Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea and face a potentially high ransom payment and massive negative PR impact or to deviate well to the East or West of the Sulu Sea and Celebes Sea and incur additional fuel costs. Now, however, Associated Risks are able to provide a secure and cost-effective alternative to the provision of privately contracted Armed Guards utilizing Government approved and legally licensed Armed Guards from the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia to protect ships/ Tugs/ Barges/ Yachts/ Superyachts from acts of Piracy/ Armed Robbery and terrorism when transiting the Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea and Makassar/ Malacca/ Singapore Straits between Bongao, Tawi Tawi, Mindoro, Manila, General Santos, Surigao City, Balabac and Sibutu Passage in the Philippines, between Tawau, Lahad Datu, Semporna, Sandakan and Kudat in Sabah, Malaysia and between Banda Ache, Batam, Jakarta, Balikpapan, Mataram, Jayapura, Karakelong and Sebatik in Indonesia.

The Sulu Sea, Celebes Sea and Makassar/ Malacca/ Singapore Straits region covers the tri-border area of the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. It is strategically located and most international shipping passes through its maritime sea lanes. In the Sibutu passage alone, an average of 14,000 ships passes yearly. Prior to 2016, there were kidnaps for ransom on land in the region carried out by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), an Islamic extremist group based in Southern Philippines. On 26 March 2016, the first abduction of crew from ship was reported. It involved the tug boat, Brahma 12 and 10 of the Indonesian crew on board the boat were abducted. Since then, a spate of abduction of crew incidents were reported in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.