Once under attack, there is little that a ship can do except increase its speed. Most merchant vessels are unarmed, with the exception of a few Israeli ships that have machine guns on board. The standard practice is to take ‘evasive manoeuvers’, which basically means steering out of the path of pirate vessels or generating a larger ‘wave’ to throw the smaller speedboats off course.

A more ‘close in’ tactic is to use high-pressure fire hoses—meant to douse flames on board—to wash off pirates who are attempting to board the ship. However, high-speed water jets can do little against automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades that the sea bandits carry.

While in the past, pirates would have taken over the ship and looted all valuables, the new tactic is to take the vessel to a neighbouring port and hold it to ransom. The pirates’ job has been made easy by the lack of effective governance in Somalia where the ships are anchored till a price is agreed upon.

“A fine-tuned network has been put in place by the pirates. As soon as news of a hijacking reaches the owners, negotiations are initiated through well-established channels. In many cases, French negotiators are the link between the pirates and the owners,” said a senior naval officer.

Ships are often kept for ransom for several weeks till a price is settled upon—the Japanese Stolt Valor was released after two months of captivity on November 16. Pirates demanded $25 million—the biggest demand for a ship so far—for the Sirius Star crude oil tanker, which has an estimated $100 million worth of oil on board.

... contd.