Posted on 05/17/2011 3:09:21 PM PDT by Cardhu
Pirates of yesteryear have been romanticized in literature through books like "Treasure Island" and in films like "Pirates of the Caribbean". But the modern day piracy off the coast of Somalia is no swashbuckling fun and adventure. It is an expensive and dangerous problem that is escalating at an alarming rate.
Piracy cost the international economy up to $8.3 billion last year and "has emerged as a market it its own right," states a new report by political and economic intelligence consulting firm Geopolicity. Already in the first quarter of 2011, Somali pirates have attacked more than 117 ships, killed 7 crew members and held 338 hostages for ransom, the study finds. But international efforts to scupper the problem are failing, and it is predicted that piracy-related costs could more than double in just the next three years.
Now notorious for the frequent boat hijackings, kidnappings and robberies that take place there, the Gulf of Aden off the eastern coast of Somalia has become such a hornet's nest for the shipping industry that many captains choose to steer clear of it entirely -- even if it means adding up to three weeks to their journey. Instead of passing through the gulf on their way to and from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, many are now taking a much longer route which takes them around the entire African continent and past the Cape of Good Hope at its southern tip.
Ransoms Rising
The ships that do brave the waters off Somalia and other well-known danger zones around the world must pay higher insurance fees and feel compelled to purchase additional security equipment and hire security personnel.
Meanwhile, shipping companies are being coerced into paying rapidly increasing ransoms for captured vessels and crews despite these extra precautions...
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Well, I’ll take Johnny Depp. Kill the rest.
$8.3 billion...and expected to double.
That’s a new industry in itself.
Seriously, that pirate crap would be so easy to stop, I have a hard time feeling sorry for the "victims". They are victims of political correctness, if you ask me.
SHould be easy to make it NOT ProfITAble..
You're absolutely right. It would be relatively easy to make the pirates begin disappearing. Eventually, they'd run out of people willing to take the jobs.
Mark
We should start renting portable Phalanx systems that could be placed on the fore and aft end of the ships just before they start their trip through the troubled waters. At the end of the trip the units could be lifted off and readied for another rental.
The only problem is only a couple of nations have the guts to use force on these murderers.
Too damned bad the sharks are left hungry.
What I’d do is slice all but one pirate and throw their asses overboard to the sharks, making the remaining bastard watch.
Then I’d send his ass home to communicate, in specific detail, what would happen to any future would-be pirates who are captured.
“Piracy”?
You mean maritime jihad....
What is truly needed here is the willingness to turn to a “short drop, and a sudden stop” again...
Or better yet, emulate Pershing...
Bullets are cheap.
So why can’t we watch where their boats are moored (by satellite, spy plane, or drone), then lob a cruise missile or two into their harbor?
Or take out a Somali speedboat or twelve with drones?
But prohibited.
Private vessels/yachts don't arm themselves (unless you buy your own SEAL team and have it duly authorized to operate under international and national agencies) because they would be at risk for incarceration and prosecution by whatever court lies onshore. Most solve the problem by either avoidance or having a vessel with speed enough to outrun aggressors; that would mean more than 20 knots in blue water seas.
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