Somali pirates seize Japanese-owned cargo ship

What about Japan Maritime boats? failed to act and protect J-vessel?

Japan always pays and the pirates know it. They will target Japanese ships. It's easy money.

I guess somehow magically the pirates know that the ship is Japanese and that the Japanese Marine Self Defense Force failed to teleport to the scene in time to satisfy some posters.

What always amazes me about these pirate stories is that with current sonar, radar, video tracking and weapons technology nobody has thought to simply equip every ship traveling through this region with a Barret M82 linked up to automatic target acquisition. Sure they'd need a human crew member to press the button and confirm firing, but with an effective range of 1.5km and Raufoss explosive rounds it would just need a single shot to cripple an incoming speed boat, and with a standard clip of 10 I think these pirate attacks would rapidly become a thing of the past.

Alternatively someone should set up a company hiring out security to these ships. A team of 3 or 4 snipers gets on the ship when they're nearing the danger zone, stays with the ship during it's trip, collects their payment and then either changes across directly to guard a ship going in the opposite direction, or goes back to their own ship for some R&R before meeting up with their next contract. No need for any loss of life, just a single 50cal explosive round to the bow of the incoming speedboat and then laugh as you watch them throw away their guns and swim back to shore (or sink, it's up to them). The news would get around very quickly that the piracy game was simply not worth the risk of a 10km swim back to shore plus the cost of all their equipment.

mikehuntez,

Unless they've returned, the JMSDF has a couple of destroyers in the Somali region for just this purpose.

Plus, if the pirates can read, they can probably figure out which ships are Japanese by their names.

Or, if they have the resources - and with multi-million dollar payouts they probably do - they can look up online the schedules of Japanese cargo ships. Interestingly enough, the Izumi's schedule is not on the NYK-Hinode website at nyk-hinode.com but its sister ship, the Fushimi, will be in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10~12. Shall we rent a tiny skiff and make a few million yen?

some14some,

The European Union Naval Force probably sent the nearest ship, if the EUNF is in charge of coordinating anti-piracy ships. Or perhaps the nearest ship heard the distress signal and raced to its rescue? Like most ships do? Just a guess on my part.

Frungy: These people aren't going to pay the money for the necessary defense until it's absolutely needed (ie. when the insurance doesn't cover the losses). They want a cheap bottom line, and that's what they're getting.

Time to call in the U.S. Navy SEALS again.

Better than US Navy SEALS, it is time to call in the CHINESE FISHERMEN! I think that CHINA really knows how to use their fishermen for not only fishing but say as a good excuse to just invade Somalia.

Invade Somalia? What for?

This piracy thing is madness, one half expects Cap'n Jack Sparrow to stumble forward, but the reality of it is the most underhanded criminal activity in recent memory yet everyone thinks it's semi-ok somehow. Maybe it's the boats, no one can relate to immense ships, right ? I mean, what do we lay folk know about the leviathans of the seven seas ? It's all J. Depp's fault.

Most of the big tankers/cargo-ships, actually use very little crew(just a handful of people).

So there is not much opposition for the pirates as the quartes, etc are also in a small area of those big ships = easily controlled.

Insurance companies don't mind paying up to the pirates. They will lose nothing in the long run. We, who pay for insurance on houses, cars, etc, will have larger premiums to pay to cover their losses.

Disillusioned at 10:15 PM JST - 12th October Invade Somalia? What for?

Because everyone knows that Somalia has been Chinese territory since the Tang Dynasty.

Put barbed wire around the rim so they cant climb on board. Problem solved.

How about hiring Blackwater to provide security on all these merchant ships? End of problem!