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You make it unprofitable by tracking and killing as many of the pirates as possible. It raises their costs substantially. I can think of a couple of possible

by philk 17y ago

You make it unprofitable by tracking and killing as many of the pirates as possible. It raises their costs substantially. I can think of a couple of possible solutions: a) Dummy ships. Get a warship of some sort, make it look tempting and fill it with armaments. b) Cheap UAVs to help spot the pirates. (You don't necessarily need to scan the entire area, just scan ports and then follow the ships that leave). There are other things you can do, like banning negotiation with the pirates and penalising anyone who pays a ransom but that's probably not palatable to politicians.

rdtsc 17y ago
> like banning negotiation with the pirates and penalising anyone who pays a ransom. I wouldn't want to be in a captured ship when this law goes into effect. I wonder though if some of these shipping companies can hire private security firms to protect them? I would guess that commercial vessels cannot have military on them in order to have access to other countries' ports, but the private security can just disembark before going to national waters. So here is a business proposal then. Lease a large enough vessel. Hire a bunch of guys with guns. Latest and greatest millitary equipment. Add some deterence devices ( high powered water jets, stink bombs, directed microwave radiation, regular firearms). Then escort and embark on commercial vessels when they are in international waters. Charge by the hour and world region. Provide security. Before the commercial vessel sails into its destination port, disembark and wait in international waters to escort the next vessel out to another destination. Would that work?
- Aetius 17y ago
  Somolian Pirates will continue piracy until they are wealthy enough to lift the country out of poverty. Their waters are no good thanks to multinational dumping and overfishing, their land isn't arable, and their infrastructure is nil. So, this really is the only option. It is either death at Sea or a very precarious existence at home. They have every incentive to keep taxing the waters until there is an equilibrium of military cost to deploy enough ships and men to stop them vs. piracy ransom costs. It will be a long time (it costs many millions of dollars to deploy standing warships) before this equilibrium is reached.
  - rdtsc 17y ago
    It is interesting that the dumping angle is not much discussed in the mainstream media. I was aware of it, I just didn't know it is that bad. I guess nobody looks at it from their point of view. Also, the pirates don't really have a handy PR agency to promote their point. At the same time, I wonder if they use the 'dumping' as an excuse to pirate. Pirating is dangerous but it is also quite profitable. They take over un-armed ships, hold them for a couple of months, then millions of dollars land in their lap. It is certainly more profitable than fishing or growing things.
andrewcooke 17y ago
heh. janqui logic. i guess you have never lived in a poor country.

by philk 17y ago

rdtsc 17y ago

> like banning negotiation with the pirates and penalising anyone who pays a ransom. I wouldn't want to be in a captured ship when this law goes into effect. I wonder though if some of these shipping companies can hire private security firms to protect them? I would guess that commercial vessels cannot have military on them in order to have access to other countries' ports, but the private security can just disembark before going to national waters. So here is a business proposal then. Lease a large enough vessel. Hire a bunch of guys with guns. Latest and greatest millitary equipment. Add some deterence devices ( high powered water jets, stink bombs, directed microwave radiation, regular firearms). Then escort and embark on commercial vessels when they are in international waters. Charge by the hour and world region. Provide security. Before the commercial vessel sails into its destination port, disembark and wait in international waters to escort the next vessel out to another destination. Would that work?

Aetius 17y ago
Somolian Pirates will continue piracy until they are wealthy enough to lift the country out of poverty. Their waters are no good thanks to multinational dumping and overfishing, their land isn't arable, and their infrastructure is nil. So, this really is the only option. It is either death at Sea or a very precarious existence at home. They have every incentive to keep taxing the waters until there is an equilibrium of military cost to deploy enough ships and men to stop them vs. piracy ransom costs. It will be a long time (it costs many millions of dollars to deploy standing warships) before this equilibrium is reached.
- rdtsc 17y ago
  It is interesting that the dumping angle is not much discussed in the mainstream media. I was aware of it, I just didn't know it is that bad. I guess nobody looks at it from their point of view. Also, the pirates don't really have a handy PR agency to promote their point. At the same time, I wonder if they use the 'dumping' as an excuse to pirate. Pirating is dangerous but it is also quite profitable. They take over un-armed ships, hold them for a couple of months, then millions of dollars land in their lap. It is certainly more profitable than fishing or growing things.

andrewcooke 17y ago

heh. janqui logic. i guess you have never lived in a poor country.