Aaaarrrrrgh!

We’ll refrain from mentioning any names, but we were ridiculed by a friend a number of years ago when we said that piracy remained a significant threat to worldwide commercial maritime trade. Pirates!!!

Traditionally, one of the hot spots has been the Straights of Malacca, a narrow shipping lane in Indonesia that is the primary trade route between India and China. Now, however, attention has shifted to the waters off the horn of Africa as Somali pirates have been extracting sizeable ransoms from shipping companies.

And, indeed, the first line of the Marine Hymn contains a nod to our young nation’s engagement with the Barbary pirates of North Africa.

Well, what’s to be done? They haven’t hijacked any U.S.-flagged ships… The hijacking of an oil tanker here and there has not had any significant impact on the overall oil supply so it really has had no bearing on the price at the pump. And what of the pirates, themselves? Should they be confronted or is there actually some collateral benefit to what they are doing?

B-Daddy digs into it and explores the options, here.