TNAG-2897-FCO40-4171-Hong-Kong-piracy-in-the-South-China-Sea-1993 — Page 43

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.1.3

.1.4

.1.5

.1.6

date and time of incident;

position of incident in both general areas and latitude/longitude;

details of the incident;

consequences to the ship, crew and cargo;

.1.7

action taken by master and crew;

.1.8

.1.9

.1.10

(b)

coastal State flag State

.1.11

.2

reporting action by the ship and owner;

to whom reported and by whom (for flag and coastal States);

action taken by: (a)

remarks (i.e. whether an urgent report has been filed).

Urgent Urgent reports of incidents should be made to the coastal States for attacks within their territorial sea, copying neighbouring coastal States and the Regional Piracy Centre, as well as the flag State of the ship involved. As much detail as possible from the list above should be included in the report, as the object of an urgent report is to alert the States and agencies concerned, so counter-action may be taken where applicable and piracy warning information, especially at the RPC, can be updated. Urgent reports must be included in the subsequent routine report suitably annotated

(i.e. last column: urgent report of [date] refers).

Reports from shipmasters

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There is a natural reluctance in some masters to report attacks. This has been the conclusion of the United States Department of Energy Report Piracy, the Threat to Tanker Traffic (Sept. 1992), and was supported by several authorities interviewed during the Group's visit to the Malacca Strait

To quote the United States Department of Energy report:

area.

"Analysts agree that the incidents of piracy (and armed robbery at sea) is underreported by shipmasters and owners by at least a factor of two. Several reasons for this are proposed, including:

fear that a successful act of piracy will reflect on the master's competence;

concern that such a report will embarrass the State in whose territorial waters the act occurred (the coastal State);

concern that an investigation will disrupt the vessels schedule;

the possibility that shipowners' insurance will increase.'

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