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On Oct 19,2019 at 5 p.m. the duty oiler of the "Nord Steel" on routine rounds onboard the bulk carrier was taken hostage by five robbers armed with a gun and knives in position 01:03.45N – 103:38.70E in the Singapore Strait. The robbers threatened the oiler and tied his hands. They then stole ship's spares and escaped. The oiler reported the incident to the OOW who raised the alarm and notified the Singapore VTS.

The 'Clipper Eos', while at the Johor anchorage, was boarded unnoticed by robbers in position 01 18 14N, 104 07 03E, on Oct 5, 2019, at 6 p.m. The robbers stole ship?s properties such as two mooring ropes and a ship's bell, and escaped. The duty crew on the next routine rounds noticed the theft and notified the Officer of the Watch, who ordered a search of the vessel and reported the theft to the Malaysian Marine Police.

Whille the 'Anshun' was anchored at the Port au Prince anchorage, during routine rounds, the duty Able Seaman on board was taken hostage by robbers armed with guns and long knives, in position 18 33 54N, 72 23 12W, on OCt 12,2019, at 12.10 a.m. The alarm was subsequently raised, and the crew mustered. Seeing the alerted crew, the robbers fled the vessel and escaped with stolen ship?s properties. The incident was reported to the local authorities.

A Greek shipowner orchestrated a plan for men posing as pirates to attack and set fire to his tanker "Brillante Virtuoso", in an elaborate fraud to seek $77 million in insurance money, a London judge found. In 2011, Marios Iliopoulos lured the ship's master and chief engineer, as well as seven Yemeni coast guards, into a conspiracy off the coast of Yemen still being investigated by the City of London Police, Judge Nigel Teare ruled on Oct 7, 2019. Drawing a line under years of legal battles, the judgment dismissed a claim by Suez Fortune Investments, a company linked to Iliopoulos, and its Greek bank to force a syndicate of insurers to pay out. "The constructive total loss of Brillante Virtuoso was caused by the wilful misconduct of the owner, Mr. Iliopoulos. The motives of the armed men were not to steal or ransom the vessel or to steal from the crew, but to assist the owner to commit a fraud upon underwriters."

While underway in the Malacca Strait in position 01 03 49.8N, 103 41 12.0E, perpetrators boarded the "Transpacific" on Sep 30, 2019. Nothing was stolen, the perpetrators escaped. The incident was reported to the Singapore Vessel Traffic Information System. The ship called at Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on Oct 10.