– Bernd Debusmann is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own -
As far as illicit businesses with low risk and high rewards go, it doesn’t get much better than piracy on the high seas. The profit margins can easily surpass those of the cocaine trade. The risks?
“There is no reason not to be a pirate,” according to U.S. Vice Admiral William Gortney, who commands the U.S. navy’s Fifth Fleet. “The vessel I’m trying to pirate, they won’t shoot at me. I’m going to get my money.”
Even pirates who are intercepted have little to fear. “They won’t arrest me because there’s no place to try me.”
Gortney’s assessment of piracy’s low risk came in a radio interview that focused on the Gulf of Aden, where Somali pirates this month capped a string of increasingly brazen hijackings by seizing a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million worth of U.S.-bound crude. But although attention is focused on the Horn of Africa, piracy is a global phenomenon (see map), relative impunity applies in many places, and a thick legal fog hangs over effective action.
Among questions to keep lawyers busy: Can a naval vessel fire on a suspected pirate ship? It depends. Who would be held accountable for someone killed in an exchange of fire between pirates and private security personnel traveling aboard a merchant ship? Which country’s jurisdiction applies, for example, to a Somali arrested on the high seas and taken aboard a Danish vessel?
“One of the challenges that we have…in piracy clearly is if you are intervening and you capture pirates, is there a path to prosecute them?” Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained at a recent Pentagon briefing.
A rough back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that the operation to hijack the Saudi tanker, the Sirius Star, cost no more than $25,000 assuming that the pirates bought new equipment and weapons ($450 apiece for an AK-47 Kalashnikov, $5,000 for an RPG 7 grenade launcher, $15,000 for a speedboat). That contrasts with an initial ransom demand from the tanker’s owner, Saudi Aramco, of $25 million.
“Piracy is an excellent business model if you operate from an impoverished, lawless place like Somalia,” says Patrick Cullen, a security expert at the London School of Economics who has been researching piracy. “The risk-reward ratio is just huge.”
One way to shrink that ratio would be to place private security guards on vessels that ply shipping routes prone to pirate attack, from the waters off Nigeria to the Molucca Straits and the Horn of Africa. That’s the solution recommended by the commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, whose area of responsibility covers 7.5 million square miles, including the waters off Somalia. Its warships can’t be everywhere.
Even with the additional deployment of warships from France, Britain, Denmark, Russia, India, Japan, Korea, and Malaysia, the navies are looking for needles in a haystack. The pirates launch speedboats from mother ships hundreds of miles off the coast.
BLOW THEM OUT OF THE WATER
Carrying armed guards aboard ships sounds a simple, straightforward solution. They stand watch; they fire warnings flares at an approaching speedboat manned by what looks like pirates. If the vessel doesn’t turn away, they blow it out of the water. End of story.
Except if the incident somehow turned into a court case and the ship’s crew and guards had to prove that the men in the approaching speedboat were driven by criminal intent. By some definitions, an act of piracy doesn’t begin until the grappling hooks are thrown over the side and the pirates start clambering up.
In the past, shipping companies, by and large, have been reluctant to add armed personnel to their crews, partly for reasons of cost - a security team can add $30,000 to $60,000 and more to a voyage - and partly because the statistical chance of having their ships hijacked or attacked are relatively small.
The International Maritime Organization puts the world trading fleet at 50,525 ships. In the first nine months of this year, the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur recorded 199 attacks on ships, including 36 hijackings. In percentage terms, this is not much.
But the targets, and the ransom demands, have been getting bigger. The Sirius Star was taken less than two months after the hijacking of a Ukrainian freighter, the Fainu, which carried some 30 T-72 tanks, crates of rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition. That capture made world headlines and raised fresh questions over existing anti-piracy tactics.
Private security firms see new markets and new opportunities. Several British firms have begun teaming up with insurance companies that offer lower rates for ships carrying security teams.
Anti-pirate devices now coming into use range from razor wire strung along the side of ships to sound cannon - a weapon that beams ear-splitting noise at suspected attackers.
One U.S. company, Blackwater Worldwide, is offering maritime escort services with a 183-foot vessel that carries two helicopters, a crew of 15 and 35 guards. Blackwater says 13 shipping companies have expressed interest.
To make pirates think twice about the risk-reward ratio, nothing is likely to be as effective as brute force. But those who warn that 18th century methods can be problematic in the 21st can now point to the example set by the Indian frigate Tabar on November 18.
According to the Indian navy, the Tabar had come under fire from a suspected pirate mother ship that had failed to obey a command to stop.
The Indian frigate returned fire, “in self defense.” The ship blew up in a ball of fire and sank.
A week later, it turned out that the suspected mothership was a Thai freighter that was being taken over by pirates when the frigate approached.
(You can contact the author at Debusmann@Reuters.com)
(Pictured above: pirates on a speedboat approach one of their mother boats docked near Eyl, Somalia, in a framegrab from November 24, 2008 TV footage. REUTERS/Reuters TV)
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To see what damage pirates do and how to handle them, read up on the Roman empire and Pompey (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey). And it is no defence to sit far away in the US for example and argue cleverly. Violent chaos like piracy eventually reaches everyone - as the US learned so tragically in 2001. Piracy is no business model, for Pete’s sake. Neither is bank robbery or car hijacking. A business model operates in the commonly agreed laws of a civilised society/world. Piracy has as an object the destruction of those laws.
so many absurd comments, so little time.
Three cheers for the commenter admonishing those who chose the Monrovian flag (and their amazingly well trained but itty bitty Navy).
Three jeers for the guy who just had to capitalize the first letter of every third word. I didn’t try it…was it a code? Is he being held hostage right now?
Cruise ships (many of them, at least) now carry sound guns and VERY high powered water cannon which make for great defense. Even a accurately fired RPG will do little to these behemoths. Ditto for our supertanker.
Have no sympathy for these pirates…these are not out of work fisherman, displaced by nuclear radiation and Liechtensteiner’s surplus toxic waste–these are people who used to attack and kill those in line for UN food handouts. Since those are gone, like good members of society they’ve decided to seek employment instead of collecting another 17 weeks of unemployment insurance. Insurance…segue to…
…convoys are expensive. I know I know, but they are. Many of the largest oil and bulk freighters are now transiting the Horn instead of the straits. I would love to know what that added expense is?
Ironic that the pirates first asked for 10, then 15, then 25 and now…? In the meantime, oil has dropped precipitously–I wonder if that delivery price is still good!
Yeah, we should just kill the pirates when they get too close. And then lets start killing pirates in the Carib again, and while we’re at it, lets start treating drug traffickers like pirates…until we shoot down some VFR Cessna’s and a small powerboat belonging to a clergyman’s daughter. Then we’ll all recoil a la ‘what have we become’ and give it another…oh, 10 years to get here again. Or we could put 6 armed guards on every vessel. Either way.
How is it that a pirate outfit that would cost a mere $25k to outfit from scratch requires a $30k-$60k security force to repel?
These aren’t crack commandos committing piracy from well fortified warships, they’re poorly trained thugs attacking from civilian speedboats.
Forget Blackwater, just keep a few AKs and RPGs on the boat and have them open fire while the pirates are approaching, or even trying to climb the grappling hooks. They’ll have height, cover, and numerical advantage even if they aren’t better trained and equipped (which wouldn’t really be that difficult to achieve).
And on the off-chance that an unidentified speedboat full of armed men just happens to be cruising around the East African shipping lanes and heads toward a freighter without any sort of ill intent, well, I just don’t see that happening.
Is it not simple to look the other way . On this matter as both sides have intrinsic right to the sea. Though they do not have such rights to each other. They are guest of the ocean. But mind you what is in someones possession and not protected can be taken. Protection seems to be the issue here. Do said boats have rights to protect themselves. Maritime Law says no ? Or do simple matters of business preclude and subordinate Maritime statues. Matters of business meaning the given right to conduct it(business) anywhere in the world with some degree of safe conduct afforded and expected. The ocean w is an entity and has law and conduct. Perhaps rules of safety will prevail and piracy will be brought under the safety codes for prosecution. Is it not unlawful to unsafely operate a vessel. Perhaps with magnification for high seas travel.
First of all, Blackwater Worldwide SUX.
Second, the biggest, baddest pirate was under the hand of the queen, sir francis drake, so that begs the question,
Who is footing the bill for all the guns, bullets, boats and food for these pirates?
If anyone really cared to stop these actions they could send the RIAA after the guys.
Never ever assume that this romanticized view of pirates “low risk, high reward” is accurate.
From this article it seems as if the millitary has the most to gain since “their warships cant be everywhere” perhapse they want more funding so they can police the high seas, more billion dollar ships so we can police the world is the answer I guess.
I dont doubt our little pirates are praying for that shipment of twinkies to fall in their laps, but it looks to me like every time a pirate goes yarrr, a general gets more funding.
Besides, everybody knows where the skull and crossbones comes from,, and where it ended up, even our president is a bonesmen, and by the looks of it our ship of state is taking on water. Things could be worse, we could be a service economy in a country rich in natural resources that doesnt make anything and thus has to import everything from far off lands…..oh….nevermind
Keep a flare gun and a rocket launcher on each ship. You don’t need to spend 60k on security, just fire a warning shot, give it a minute, and let it rip. There is no way to deter them with anything else.
Well would this mean going back to the days when merchant ships sailed as a fleet and hence be protected en masse?
From the mid 19th century to the end of the Nixon administration, piracy was a crime tried under military law - a capital crime - as was slavery. In the 1960s the number of reported incidents in the Caribbean was about 12 a year: after we stopped enforcing the law USCG statistics jumped to over 500 a year (just in that one area). Military trials were fast and fair - to separate wheat from chaff - and let those accidentally in the net go free. I say - return to the historical practice. [Former Navy petty officer]
This case differs from our historical memories of then. In this now, they hold, and tightly we are led to believe, hold quite a number of hostages. Depending upon the welfare of the hostages or NOT we probably don’t want to add to their terrible situation by killing them ourselves in faulty rescue attempts.
There may be ways of coordinating the spray of Nemutol, heroin, or other soporifics with the prevailing winds in order to knock them all unconscious as commandos, much better than India’s, free the hostages and take the pirates out to the mariner’s court that you all seem to have forgotten: the judgement and the gang plank and, of course, the hungry sharks..
I wonder if the shipping companies have considered collaborating to form escorted convoys through these areas.
How about that: install on commercial ships some self-defense weapons. A handful of small caliber automatic cannons, remotely controlled from the bridge, will be sufficient to provide necessary deterrent. And if the pirates are not deterred by the looks of these - too bad for the bad guys. A cannon like that can slice and dice a speedboat or even sink their mother ship from a distance well beyond the range of AK-47 and RPG - the usual weapons of the pirates. Yet it’s a purely defensive thing and would not change the ship’s commercial status - a few small guns will not turn a cruise liner into a naval cruiser. It should not be expensive either. To tackle a ship that is armed with these cannons, the pirates would need something as big, armored, and well-armed as a naval frigate, and they don’t seem to get any of these easily. Even if they manage to illegally purchase an old decommissioned warship from a scrap yard, or convert a trawler or a freighter to resemble one, that thing would be too big and too conspicuous to go unnoticed by the legitimate navies that patrol the seas - with all the consequences to follow. The pirates will be toast - by the way, “TOAST” is the anti-spam word. And as for legal issues - guys in a speed boat wielding assault rifles are not, and should not be assumed to be peaceful fishermen. A photo or video of the target right before it was blown to smithereens should be enough of the evidence relieving the crew from any and all legal consequences.
Your lead in was “As far as illicit businesses with low risk and high rewards go, it doesn’t get much better than piracy on the high seas”
WRONG.. you could be member of the Gang of 535, in Congress of DC or State Capitals. Much safer and pays better and great benefits, even well paying jobs for family and “friends”. So let’s not praise pirates to highly, our politicians can and do “Out pirate” them any day. Doubt whom is worse, history records of reformed honest pirates,but never of politicians.
I can see a new role for GITMO! A pirate prison beyond the reach of the courts.
Legal loopholes always seem to be found in military actions, so why not let one of the navies form their OWN pirate units, i.e., commerce raiding, like they used to do during the Elizabethan Age, WWI and WWII? A quasi-military outfit that robs the robbers. Hit the pirates with their own medicine.
Very interesting indeed. So how exactly do I get started with this piracy business?
Only a few news sourcs have so far indicated exactly why Somalia has turned to piracy. Europe and the US have been disposing of waste in Somalia’s seas for decades now at a cost of around $1.70 a ton, compared to $600 to get it properly disposed in the US or Europe.
The Tsunami dislodged a lot of this waste (including nuclear) and the UN has done precious little in their investigations. Add to this the constant thievery of fish in Somalia’s territorial waters and this makes for angry fishermen teaming up with opportunist criminals. All of them wih nothing to lose.
It’s one thing devising ever more methods to deal with pirates, but less money could be spent on preventing the rise of pirates in the first place. Or could it? It’s too easy to dump waste in someone else’s backyard,especially if it is profitable.
On the Battery in Charleston SC is a marker where Pirates were hanged. This practice has ended piracy for the last two hundred years.
yyyaarrrgghhhh….
Dear Bernd,
An excellent story with some broadly applicable observations about Piracy. We come away from this knowing first and foremost is the Location of Somalia offering ease and opportunity for Piracy, Piracy that within the context of Lawlessness is an appropriate manifestation of human nature seeking to maximize their environment. Penalty of course reduces the incremental benefit yielded from Piracy, though adding Private Security Contractors or Non-State Actors, might re-enforce a lawless conduct in what can be determined to be an ‘ungoverned’ reaction mechanism.
Many of the fundementals of Somalia’s urge to Piracy exist in the US Internet Economy where an unregulated business controlling traffic has opportunistically siezed others Treasure without TIMELY governmental response.
As we see vessels now seeing appropriate to take Law into their own hands in Somalia Waters with private security contractors. A Rule of Law defines a state and where there is no Law a Vigilantism fills the Vacuum.
Ultimately it is a great story about why we have Governments and what type of Lawless Conduct exposes their weaknesses or inability for Self-Governance.
Piracy is an excellent example of a failure of Government or a situation of No Government or Anarchy, like Somalia.
Looking at the Financial Crisis and the many moving parts causing it, I think a little about Anarchy and the component of Private Security Contractors adding to an Environment of Anarchy.
Somalia Piracy is clear Evidence Anarchy is not a Good form of Governance, yet in our Public Markets we have not had proper Prosecution of Piracy which has left a state of Anarchy.
I must be Crazy to think Piracy is Wrong when it is so Profitable but that would be a judgment of Minimalist Morality that is established by a personal code of conduct that if widely accepted becomes something called a Law. That would make Somalia a good example of why we need Law and a great commentary on why Enforcement of Law is needed in Timely Manner where extreme profits are quickly gained through acts of PIRACY.
Now if the SEC and DOJ would just ponder such things, maybe - just maybe they would start doing their JOB of protecting people and property in the Domestic United States.
O the Lesson’s we can Learn from Somali Pirates!
Why do we spend hundreds of billions for ships and planes? It’s needed to keep the seas safe- isn’t that the rationale? Yet when honest to goodness pirate show up and commit acts of clear piracy what do we see? A U.S. Navy admiral saying ” find your own security, ship owners, and remember not to hurt any pirates because golly gosh, we don’t know where we can take them to court and we wouldn’t want to get anybody mad and saying mean things about us…”
If we’d had this grade of “leadership” in 1803, the USA would still be paying tribute to the Barbary pirates. Makes me sick to see how far we’ve fallen.