Captain Phillips: Unarmed Crews get Hijacked.

Tom Hanks is a great actor even if he’s a darned liberal in real life, this film was excellent. Mostly realistic although the former crew of Captain Philips have said things against him in their lawsuit.

What I like is that shipping companies are getting smart:

“Fast forward to today, and it’s hard to imagine those same pirates getting anywhere close to a ship like the Alabama. Since Phillips’s capture, there’s been a sea change (sorry) in how ships defend themselves against piratical assaults. Instead of relying solely on water cannons and evasive maneuvers, companies have taken to hiring private armed escorts of former Marines and Navy SEALs.”
Source: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/10/blackwater-at-sea-the-legacy-of-capt-phillips.html

Even the liberal New York Mag had to admit it’s working:

“Despite worries that having gun-toting contractors onboard may cause confrontations to escalate, they seem to have worked as a deterrent. Since 2011, the number of pirate attacks around Somalia has plummeted, from 237 that year to just 10 so far this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau. And the number of vessels held by pirates has dropped from 47 in 2010 to only 1 today.”

Source: Idem

 

Even if a security team of four men with M4 and sniper rifles can cost $50,000, it’s a lot cheaper than a $10 million ransom. Of course, it might be even cheaper to just buy a few guns for the crew, but that’s probably not going to happen.

 

 

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