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2004-01-28 Southeast Asia

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Posted by Steve 2004-01-28 11:11:53 AM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 A company could make a good living by providing sea marshals.

Posted by Super Hose 2004-1-28 12:07:58 PM|| 2004-1-28 12:07:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Sea marshals? What, and spend money? Merchant shipping cuts costs to the bone. They make Wal-Mart look like Saks Fifth Avenue. These pirates are just desperadoes...nowhere does it mention that the pirates typically aren't after the ship's cargo like the olde tyme variety. They simply rob the crew and take all the DVD players and TVs out of the crew's quarters. Pretty pathetic for Blackbeard's spiritual progeny.

Posted by gromky 2004-1-28 12:58:51 PM|| 2004-1-28 12:58:51 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Are there any flightworthy Douglas Skyraiders available still? Perfect anti-piracy tool. Set up patrols and a couple of rapid reaction groups in strategic locations, and piracy will cease to be a problem.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-1-28 4:13:33 PM|| 2004-1-28 4:13:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 Skyraiders would be cool--but you could probably get by with Britten-Norman Defenders mounting Hellfires.

Posted by Mike 2004-1-28 5:21:46 PM|| 2004-1-28 5:21:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Actually you could probably get by with 3 stout hearts and a MaDeuce.

Posted by Shipman 2004-1-28 7:08:03 PM|| 2004-1-28 7:08:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Sea marshals? What, and spend money? Merchant shipping cuts costs to the bone. They make Wal-Mart look like Saks Fifth Avenue.

Ah, somebody else who knows the maritime industry.

The most common anti-piracy recomendations boil down to 1) keep the ship brightly lit 2) run at the highest "economical" speed through trouble areas 3) if you get boarded, go to a secure area and wait it out. Insurance (if any) will cover some of the ship's loss. As for the crew, well, jobs are hard to come by in the home country...

>These pirates are just desperadoes...nowhere does it mention that the pirates typically aren't after the ship's cargo like the olde tyme variety.<

There are quite a number of cases where the ship was taken and its cargo sold elsewhere. On occasion the ship is found with a new name and registry. Most of these types of attacks occur off Western Africa and the China Sea and tend to be highly organized and sponsored.

Posted by Pappy 2004-1-28 8:17:40 PM|| 2004-1-28 8:17:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 I guess I wasn't really thinking of the shipping companies footing the bill. I don't know that we do ourselves much good by letting piracy continue. It seems to me that we could a get a pretty good ~~bang for our buck~~ return on our investment by buying a likely scow, fill it full of contractors that could be carrying a gross or two of the excess RPG rounds that we have found stock-piled in Tikrit.
Oh well, I guess I had too much Stephen Decatur jammed down my throat. I am also partial to sting operations of the lethal sort.

Posted by Super Hose 2004-1-28 9:09:26 PM|| 2004-1-28 9:09:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Just a consideration - weren't we all sort of OK with the hijacking thing a few years back? Everybody remember when we'ld just get teh guy with the bullhorn out there to see why the guys had taken hostages and what we could do for them. I'd feel better if piracy was more generally regarded as a real chancy endeavor. Either way, though, I sleep fine in Indiana. They would need to boom a pretty big LP gas boat to threaten my sorry ass.

Posted by Super Hose 2004-1-28 9:17:54 PM|| 2004-1-28 9:17:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 I'd feel better if piracy was more generally regarded as a real chancy endeavor.

The answer is applying the same analysis and tactics used by law enforcement agencies, tied in with not-so subtle government to government stick/carrots. Unfotunately, the areas where piracy occurs tend to be waters that have little government, impoverished government, corrupt government, or government that uses piracy as a tactical weapon.

It is similar to the attitude taken towards hijacking some years back. Shipping companies figure the odds presently are low, and when it does happen they and the crews are out of luck materially. It wouldn't take an LPG ship to do damage, just pirates whacking container ships at choke points on a regular basis and disrupting the flow of commerce.

Posted by Pappy 2004-1-28 11:38:16 PM|| 2004-1-28 11:38:16 PM|| Front Page Top

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