Piracy continues to evolve its business model
News today that a group of Somali Pirates had hijacked a Danish vessel and taken the crew I think adds a new dimension to the ever increasing sophistication of this business. The fact that they took the crew, but left the argo and the abandoned ship might just mean a flawed plan or careless, but I think i9t more likely indicates that they lacked either the manpower or the desire to attempt to take them. Since the apparently may have included weapons, I guess that’s a good thing, but think about it this way:
If an assessment indicated that the cargo was not likely to be of overwhelming financial value, then a decision may have been made to take the crew for ransom, thereby making their profit, but to greatly decrease their likely-hood of being captured by the nearby EU NAVFOR vessels by not choosing to try and make off with the whole ship. Many cargo ships have low top speeds and especially if the crew has had a chance to radio their coordinates to one of the patrolling Naval forces (which they had in this case), deboarding them and leaving the ship as a decoy greatly increases your chances of getting away.
Cost benefit analysis. Somali piracy has evolved an ever more sophisticated business model over the last two years, including an informal bourse where investors can buy into crews and gain shares in their profits. Greater discrimination in high-value, lower-risk target selection strategies only makes sense. Don’t go pleasure cruising in the Indian Ocean until they’ve got this thing figured out…
