In 2025, there were 132 attacks on ships in Asia pirates, with an increase of +23% compared to 107 accidents in the previous year. The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre (ISC) has announced that the 132 accidents of the last year include five attempted attacks on ships.

In 2025, the highest number of assaults occurred in the area of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore where 108 accidents (+74% on 2024), the highest number since 2007, and in this region 87% of accidents occurred occurred in the first seven months of the year, while they decreased significantly in the remainder of 2025 as a result of arrests of those guilty of acts of piracy carried out by the authorities in July and August. In this area, moreover, the The largest number of attacks were carried out against ships bulk carriers (52% of the total) followed by tankers (23%), container ships (10%), tugboats (12%) and ships for general goods (3%).

The Executive Director of ReCAAP ISC, Vijay D. Chafekar, specified that "the consistent increase in the number of accidents in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore does not indicate a corresponding increased threat to maritime trade that passes through them. The higher number of accidents - he explained - corresponds to largely minor thefts. In fact, in 2025 in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore did not occur category 1 accidents," Chafekar specified, referring to to the most serious type of attacks carried out mainly with the use of weapons, with violence against the crew and with the theft of the goods embarked or the hijacking of the ship.

Of the 132 acts of piracy recorded in Asia in the whole of 2025, in fact, 127 (53% of the total) were classified as category 4, or the lowest level of severity, in which pirates do not were armed and there were no acts of violence against of ship crews. In addition, in 2025 there were no Category 1 accidents compared to two accidents of this severity occurred in 2024.

"If the growth of robberies at sea in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore highlights ongoing security challenges faced by ships passing along the busy waterway - added the Executive Director of ReCAAP ISC - the decline in following the arrest of those responsible by the Regional Police of the Riau Islands demonstrates the deterrent effect of effective enforcement. To help reduce the of these episodes, the ReCAAP ISC would like to urge the shipping companies to report all cases of theft and unauthorised embarkation to the coastal authority close".

The ReCAAP ISC also announced that in 2025 there were fewer accidents in Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines, while there was a slight increase in those that occurred in India.