I don't know if this is against maritime laws or not...but have some of these companies thought about arming the sailors aboard these ships?
Or how 'bout placing a small security detail aboard each ship?
Nothing says Hello (to a pirate) better than a blazing .50 caliber machine gun.
It seems like the cost of arming the sailors or having a security detail would be cheaper than losing an entire ship.
Opinions anyone?
In World War II they had a gun mounted on merchant ships and I think a military gunner aboard.
Probably wouldn't be a bad idea today.
How about a market based solution? Someone could start selling security escorts through the strait. Pick up the heavy hitters off the coast of Singapore then drop them off on the other side of the strait.
I think many cargo ships of various kinds do routinely carry weapons. I don't know about the big company supertankers and such, but it wouldn't surprise me at all.
The best weapon they have though, is the ship itself, and maneuvering. A three or four hundred foot tanker moving at full ahead is not something anybody will wanna come very close to, especially if they are trying to not be boarded.
Boarding a ship that big moving at speed is not a trivial problem. It's complex enough when the crew is trying to help you board, but if they are in a "repel boarders" mode... its gonna be tough to pull off. Somebody pulls close aboard and tosses a grapple up... they're pretty much going to die if they think they can climb that rope.
According to the article they have not killed anyone despite all the piracy they have done. I'd think they would be more ruthless if they were terrorists, they could just be locals with little or no options to provide for their village. Is this an area where the infrastructure was wiped out by the tsunami?