This is a picture of the MV Faina presently being held by Somalian pirates. This rusty tub is only noteworthy because it's cargo consists of 33 Russian T-72 tanks plus a collection of other armaments which originated in Ukraine and were bound for the government of Kenya.Now this ship with it's 20 crew members and cargo sits anchored near the Somali port of Hobyo. The Somali pirates have repeatedly threatened to blow up this ship if ransom is not paid.
Pirates armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket launchers and using skiffs mounted with high-powered engines launched from "mother ships" disguised as fishing boats, prowl the waters off the Somali coast looking for prey in the local shipping lanes.
The MV Faina, slow, low-sided and sailing under a Belize flag seemed like a good catch. Normally ships are ransomed for somewhere between .5M and 2M dollars, making a hefty yearly profit for the pirates.
But the ship's Faina's cargo, 33 Russian T-72 tanks and other armaments, set off alarms around the world resulting with the Ukraine and Kenya finding themselves in an arms scandal since the arms are suspected of going to Sudan via Kenya.
On the pirates side they say if they could earn money other ways, such as the fishing they used to do....they would.
Soap Box Ravings can't help but wonder a couple of points:
1. If it costs a minimum of a half million dollars to ransom a ship would it not be cheaper to contract with a company, such as Blackwater Worldwide, to put a security team on board a vessel sailing through troubled waters.
When we look at the picture of the MV Faina, even though the sides are low for a ship, they are a good bit above the pirate skiff tied alongside. Coming over the "gunnel's" under fire is no more glamorous today than it was in Blackbeard's' time.Even if the ship is attacked by RPGs the security team should be able to respond with enough effect to discourage the pirates. There are a lot more places the missile could hit without doing critical damage than there is for critical damage.
However, once the pirates receive incoming fire, their attitude will probably change somewhat.
2. The pirates claim that they would go back to fishing if they could seems somewhat unbelievable. When you can get from .5M to 2M per ship and you can grab roughly 60 ships per year Soap Box Ravings does not believe that all the fisherman in Somali ever made 30+ million dollars throughout Somali history total.
