How the war on piracy became big business

How the war on piracy became big business

Because of pirate hijackings off the coast of Africa a big, money-making protection industry has started. There are more and more private security guards working in the oceans, so Hazel Healy asks: is this really the best way to ‘safer seas’?

Pirate patrol: German troops in Djibouti prepare to join Europe’s anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia. The fight against pirates has been useful for countries like Germany and Japan to stop following the restrictions agreed by constitution after the war. (Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

On a windy day last May, a sailor stands on the HMS Illustrious on the River Thames.

It was almost a year after the last big hijacking by Somali pirates. Then, the Somalis hijacked the crude-oil tanker MV Smyrni, and got $13.5 million in ransom money – more money than ever before.

The sailor thinks about his counter-piracy voyage to the Gulf of Aden, and says he didn’t see any pirates.

The ‘maritime security’ sector is at a seminar on the ship. Gavin Simmons, from the UK Chamber of Shipping, says we need the counter-piracy missions to the Gulf of Aden: ‘Shipping was important in the days of free trade and Empire and it’s equally important today,’ he says, and praises the work of the navy. Warships have helped stop Somali pirates. In the first six months of 2013, there were only six pirate attacks.

But there are problems with putting a lot of military in the sea. A big private security industry can now see new opportunities off the west coast of Africa.

Return of the pirates

There was a lot of piracy in all the oceans of the world for thousands of years until the mid-19th century. It started again in the 1990s, first with attacks in the Malacca Straits in Southeast Asia, and later off the coasts of Africa.

The world’s media showed the many Somali pirate hijackings. In 2011, the International Maritime Organization recorded an average of about one hijacking per week. They didn’t steal but they demanded money. They captured about 3,700 crew (people) and 149 boats, and they got $385 million between 2005 and 2012.

The pirates said they were fighting against the foreign boats that destroyed their lobster breeding grounds, and the damage caused by hazardous waste dumped near their country. The first pirates were actually angry fishermen, but the idea of ‘taxing’ ships was productive. Pirates had found a good source of money from global capitalism.

The pirates were first based at the exit to the Suez Canal, in the Somali region of Puntland. Then they expanded to cover the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and the southern coast of India. They attacked anyone. UN advisor Jack Lang even said they were becoming the ‘Masters’ of the Indian Ocean. They took container ships, big supertankers full of crude oil, and even emergency ships with supplied for starving people. Pirates shared what they got: investors kept half, and the pirates earned medium amounts of money (soon used up by many, very poor relatives).

It’s a high risk plan to survive, not an exciting adventure. And in stateless Somalia, there are not many other choices.

Naval control

World powers fight back with military surveillance, deterrence and criminal prosecutions.

Since 2008, new warships, drones (unmanned places) and Special Forces have patrolled the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. NATO, the EU and a US-led task force have military forces there, with ships from 22 countries, including Pakistan, Iran and China. The UN Security Council gave permission for attacks at sea, from the air and on land.

Shipping and oil companies fought hard to get protection. But counter-piracy also gave a new purpose to navies at a time of government spending cuts. It also gave countries an opportunity to show their national and regional power. The Gulf of Aden is a good place for a warship: it is the gateway to Asia, and a central point for energy (3.4 million barrels of oil pass through every day).

unfinished .. to be completed soon ...

original: http://newint.org/features/2013/09/01/pirates-keynote/