Pirates Losing! <Shocking> !!!! Armed Guards WORK!

Quote:

Originally Posted by From the article

That means that about 13,000-23,000 ships are paying for armed guards to accompany them through the vulnerable areas, a roughly 10-day trip, at a cost of approximately $60,000 each time. Based on those figures, the total annual cost for shipping companies merely to deploy armed guards on their ships through the Gulf of Aden is between about $800 million and $1.4 billion. The total cost of piracy to the world in 2011, according to the One Earth Future Foundation's estimates, was between $6.6 billion and $6.9 billion. This estimate included $160 million for ransom payments; other preventative measures, such as rerouting ships or using more fuel to maintain higher speeds, made up the rest of the costs.

In other words, the cost of preventing piracy off the coast of Somalia is substantially higher than the costs piracy inflicts.

... excluding the cost of lost life, assuming losses @ $0/life. Typical bean counter logic. Valued at $0/life lost, it's no wonder that failure to boost security and resist piracy has been the rule of the day. After all, it's not as though a few deck hands over the rail will make much difference, in the end. </sarcasm>