Why are Somali's pirates?

[Obie Wan]

I like the explanation I heard a guy use for the Somalian's the other day,try to think of them as members of ACORN with row boats !!!

[rmnunez]

Spanish Frigate Numancia,

Which relieved the Victoria,

Part of the 8 frigate, 1,200 sailor and 2 aircraft force the UE has deployed off the Somalian coast in “Operation Atalanta”, the Spanish also contribute with a naval refueling tanker, the Marques de la Ensenada

and a P3 Orion aircraft.

The USS Boxer, en route to Somalia:

German frigate, Rheinland-Pfalz

Le Ponant, French flag, cruise ship.

The Bow Asir, Bahamanian flagged, Norwegian shipper, transporting chemicals.

The Faina, Belizean flagged, Ukrainian shipper, carrying armament to Kenya

MV Centauri

[MyApologies]

That's a big document, would you cite the pertinent section?

not a chance, you did mention how big that document was. Anyhow, thats just what I picked up listening to the news, nothing I care to prove. It is illegal to have guns on your boat, I don't know for certain which law authorizes the ban.

And since I don't believe Somalia even signed that treaty anyway I would think they couldn't invoke it.
Not actually having a government can shut you out of a lot of things.

Well, it wouldn't matter, if you can't leave a dock with a gun, you wont be finding one out at sea.

[rmnunez]

STOLT STRENGTH: Seized November 10. The chemical tanker had 23 Filipino crew aboard. It was carrying nearly 24,000 tonnes of oil products.

CHEMSTAR VENUS: Seized November 15. The tanker was traveling from Dumai, Indonesia, to Ukraine. It had 18 Filipino and five South Korean crew.

LONGCHAMP: Seized on January 29, 2009. The liquefied petroleum gas tanker, built in 1990, had 13 crew on board, 12 Filipinos and one Indonesian. The tanker has a capacity of 3,415 tonnes.

SALDANHA: Seized on February 22, 2009. The Maltese-flagged cargo ship, sailing to Slovenia, has 22 crew and was loaded with coal.

INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER: Seized March 2009: The 35-meter boat was built in Hamburg as an oceanographic research vessel. It accommodates around 12 passengers.

HANSA STAVANGER - Seized April 4, 2009: The 20,000-tonne German container vessel was captured about 400 miles off the southern Somali port of Kismayu, between the Seychelles and Kenya. The vessel had a German captain, three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board.

MALASPINA CASTLE - Seized April 6, 2009: The 32,500-tonne bulker is UK-owned but operated by Italians.

Here's where its all going on:

[Scribbler1]

not a chance, you did mention how big that document was. Anyhow, thats just what I picked up listening to the news, nothing I care to prove. It is illegal to have guns on your boat, I don't know for certain which law authorizes the ban.

So you never read the document and you won't or can't say where you "picked it up". Then you don't know for sure there IS such a rule, and your "picking up" means nothing at all.

Well, it wouldn't matter, if you can't leave a dock with a gun, you wont be finding one out at sea.

Leave WHAT dock? A Somali dock, a US dock or what?

[no1ninja]

I think there is something fishy going on here. I have never EVER seen a bunch of guys with ak47 on a small boats like this cause so much havoc to so many international countries.


A mortar round would start a war anywhere else.


I am thinking insurance & price for cargo transport. Every cost is multiplied by the good accountant. This in turn allows you to pass on the cost to the consumer. Like gas prices, once the government takes a piece of the pie, they care very little about keeping them down.


...I just find this absolutely amazing, that we have war vessels in every part of the world where they are not needed, yet somehow this region is ignored, so much so that when China volunteered to patrol the region to the UN none of the participating countries took on their offer. They wanted to do it for FREE, just to give their sailors extra training.



I am still astounded that none of these vessels have a security force. We are talking millions in cargo. Yet when you have 30,000 people show up for a demonstration you will have a hundred armed officers at the very least. Something is just too weird about this. Cargo in Iraq has tons of mercenaries protecting a small convoy of trucks.


Maybe it is better to pass on the cost with a markup to your customers, than hire 10 armed guards for a ship. (We are talking about the most dangerous waters here... even if it is done in that very area).

[no1ninja]

The thing is, the vessels do not even need these massive ships all over the place, that is a lot of loot for the tax payers to dish.

Put those sailors on board each ship. Have a squadron on each international vessel (UN sanctioned of course). Have a few ships in the area that will respond if the squadron fails to protect.


You don't even need to have the sailors be on bard for the entire voyage, they just jump on board at a checkpoint, and are let off at the exit of the danger.

[Sonart]

.

The basic principle under customary international law is that only the Flag State is entitled to exercise jurisdiction over a ship/yacht on the high seas. Therefore there is no legal prohibition on having firearms onboard on the high seas. - Maritime Asset Security & Training

International law continues to allow for privately owned civilian ships to travel the seas armed. This is not a new development. Even the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea preserves that right. - Blackwater Facts

But owners of ships plying the pirate-infested waters off Somalia's coast have balked at having firearms onboard, despite an increasing number of attacks where bullets pierced hulls or rocket propelled grenades whooshed overhead.

The reason is twofold: Owners fear pirates would be more likely to continue shooting once on board if they confronted weapons, and the company might be held liable for deaths or injuries inflicted by someone on the vessel. - Yahoo News

Once again, MyApologies is full of it, making stuff up as he goes based on something he thinks he "heard" without making the least effort to actually find out.

.

[The Black Ghost]

Anyone know the answer to why Somalia is overran with pirates?

Cash.

[rmnunez]

Portuguese Frigate NRP Corte Real

Which received a distress call from Italian tugboat MV Buccaneer captured by Somali pirates.
Italian Frigate Maestrale en route to the scene

I love boats.

[rmnunez]

Watch out with these "Google Ads", the one here "Ship Info" (www.MadMariner.com) doesn't go there at all, click it to get Google which leads in turn to http://72.233.118.68/click.php?c=9a5...12395215963437 which is a questionaire to become a marketer. I'd ask the powers that be at this forum to enquire from Google what is their intent. I thought the "Ship Info" link might provide me with a link to a picture of the MV Buccaneer tugboat, wonder whether Google's client picks up a lot of business this way.

[Cruella]

rmunez, I love boats (well, ships really) too, but these pictures are too large and not really adding anything to the debate at hand. There is a thread for random pictures though, maybe you'd like to post them there instead?