The 'Ailama', while underway in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) of the Singapore Strait (SS), was boarded by four to five perpetrators, who were armed with gun like objects, about 2.3 nautical miles off Pulau Cula, in pos. 1° 4.65' N 103° 42.43' E, on March 3, 2025, at 05.00 a.m. The intruder stole engine spares and escaped.
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HONGTAI58
The latest ship accused of damaging cables off Taiwan had a simple way of changing identity. It was able to change its name many times as the crews simply replaced three steel plates, so it has also recently traded as the 'Hongtai 68' and 'Shanmei 7'. The captain of the vessel – dubbed in local media as the ‘thousand faces ship’ – had on an earlier occasion been caught entering Taiwan with false documents.
DSM ROSE
The 'DSM Rose', while underway in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) of the Singapore Strait (SS), was boarded by five perpetrators, who were armed with gun like objects, about 0.6 nautical miles off the Takong Kecil Lighthouse, in pos. 1° 5.27' N 103° 43.27' E, on Feb 28, 2025, at 1.22 a.m. Nothing was reported stolen, and no crew members were injured.
HONGTAI58
The 'Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) ', which allegedly severed the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable. is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On the night of Feb 26, the ship along with its Chinese crew was detained. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was 'Hong Tai 168', although the AIS) displayed it as 'Hong Tai 58'. The Coast Guard personnel inspected the ship at Anping Harbor in Tainan. A review of AIS records showed that the freighter in Sep 2024 had called at the ports of Kaohsiung, Anping, Keelung and Busan.The freighter apparently turned off its AIS some time after that until Jan 2025, when it appeared in waters near the port of Kaohsiung. The device stayed on until Feb 27 at 11 a.m. The records showed that the vessel had two IMO numbers, which breached the agency’s rules. Also, the MMSI had been used by the Tanzania-flagged 'Hong Da 8 (宏大8號)' and the China-flagged 'Jin Long 389 (金龍389號)', the transponder of which had remained silent for years. The 'Hong Da 8', which is active, has operated with three MMSI numbers. The records suggested that the 'Hong Tai 58', 'Hong Da 8' and Jin Long 389' were the same freighter. The Chinese state-run China COSCO Shipping Corporation and the Guangdong-based Jin Long Maritime Transport owned and operated the 'Jin Long 389'. The 'Hong Tai 58' was linked through its MMSI numbers to six vessels. Five of the ships sailed between Taiwan, China and South Korea in the past three months, each using their AIS, but intermittently.The 'Hong Da 8' had entered the Port of Anping as recently as Feb 2.
IFESTOS
The 'Ifestos', while underway in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) of the Singapore Strait (SS), was boarded by six perpetrators, who were armed with hammers, about 0.9 nautical miles off the Takong Kecil Lighthouse, in pos. 1° 6.62' N 103° 44' E, on Feb 28, 2025, at 12.30 a.m. Nothing was reported stolen, and no crew members were injured.