Article

2003-12-23 Southeast Asia

Singapore wants pirates treated like terrorists

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Posted by Dan Darling 2003-12-23 12:35:25 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I used to have an office over-looking the straits of Singapore and those Liquified Natural Gas bulk carriers came through regular as clockwork every day. I never counted them but there were a number each day. I used to phantasize about making a movie, in which one of them gets highjacked and they stop it in the middle of the straits, where there always a hundred plus cargo ships waiting their turn at the port not to mention an urban density along the shore similar to the Manhattan shore line. The terrorrists then turn on the taps or just blow the pressured containers and I believe LNG is heavier than air so will roll out across the water forming a blanket. Light to non-existent winds are the norm in the area. LNG meets at some point a naked flame and one hell of a scary scenario.

I don't doubt the Singapore governement has run this scenario and would have a response, but I doubt whether they could actually stop it.

Posted by phil_b 2003-12-23 2:14:03 AM|| 2003-12-23 2:14:03 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 You don't have to sit in Singapore to fantasize about that. Boston harbor contains an LNG receiver as does Cove Point about 60 miles SE of DC on the Chessie. However, it would be a real task to get through all the EM controls, overrides, computer safes and so forth to release any of the LNG which is cryogenic and sealed in big old thermos' (that is those 3 big balls on the deck). Then of course once the pressure and temp are reduced and increase respectively, it vaporizes back to gas. But there is the risk albeit, nanoscule, that it could just go poof one day due to some EM failure. All of that LNG is headed from Arun on Aceh province (we know about those guys, right)to Korea and Japan.

Posted by Jack is Back! 2003-12-23 8:37:14 AM|| 2003-12-23 8:37:14 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 JIB.... but the tank, would it be hard to breach the tank? Or is the tank subdivided?

Posted by Shipman 2003-12-23 10:16:21 AM|| 2003-12-23 10:16:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Singapore wants pirates treated like terrorists

I say blow 'em out of the water with a well-placed shot.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2003-12-23 10:27:33 AM|| 2003-12-23 10:27:33 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 The Red Thingie has this to say:

... What made piracy an "international crime" was the fact that any state that gained custody of the perpetrator could try him, regardless of his or the victims' nationality, or of the place of the crime. This concept, now known as universal jurisdiction, has been more recently applied to genocide, certain war crimes and crimes against humanity.

They don't specifically mention "international terrorism" but I don't see that as much of a stretch. I believe generally international law has been interpreted that all nations have the right and responsibility to suppress piracy, etc(?) and that pirates, etc(?) are stateless, i. e., they have no rights to be respected. If you catch them, you just kill them. It's not like they're prisoners of war or anything.

Posted by Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-23 12:10:12 PM|| 2003-12-23 12:10:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Jack is Back! - I heard a radio report yesterday that they (al-Q, whomever) were targeting a large LNG shipment into Boston Hahhbahh today, and that some people weren't going into the Financial District area because of that. Here's today's report on it.

Posted by Raj 2003-12-23 12:59:32 PM|| [http://angrycyclist.blogspot.com] 2003-12-23 12:59:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 The principle of a BLEVE, or Boiling Liquid Explosive Vapor Explosion would apply. If the tank were ruptured by a small metal-penetrating charge, and a fire resulted on the surface of the tank that started heating the tank, eventually, the contents of the tank boil, which exceeds the structural integrity of the tank as a whole, and the major rupture then releases super-pressurized boiling liquid fuel into the fire.

The BLEVE effect in a tank as small as a railcar has killed people at over a half mile from the explosion. The fuel-air scenario is almost as devastating. The Russians lost a passenger train full of people in the taiga a couple of years ago because of a blown gas well laying down a fuel cloud and causing a 5 kilometer fireball.

The BLEVE from a 3-tank LNG ship has already been modelled, and could EXCEED the explosion of a tactical nuclear weapon.

Posted by Rivrdog 2003-12-23 2:58:33 PM|| 2003-12-23 2:58:33 PM|| Front Page Top

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