Despite cries from all corners for something to be done about the problem with piracy on the open seas, there have been about 1,500 reported cases of ocean freight transport workers being held ransom by pirates. In many cases the workers spend only a brief period in the care of the pirates, but there have been cases where freight transport workers have been forced to enjoy the hospitality of pirates for months on end.
If passengers of air transport firms were taken hostage and held for ransom the reaction of the authorities would certainly have been more energetic and focused. Yet, ocean freight transport is vital to the economic and personal health of billions of humans and the protection of the water routes is essential to keeping the wheels of the global economy rolling.
There have been many stating lately that the international community is falling into a form of acceptance and complacency concerning the level of piracy, instead of doing everything they can to eliminate piracy. That the message being sent to pirates is that piracy is a viable business that they can get away with and at the same time make healthy profit. That the small risk involved with piracy is well worth the millions that they can gain in ransom payments, which is going to make piracy a lot more attractive to more individuals in depressed areas of the world where major shipping routes exist.
The level of military presence and protection being provided to the ships moving through areas where pirates operate has been insufficient to stop pirates from conducting business. The geographical areas involved are huge in scope and patrolling the vast stretches of water involved, is a difficult task to achieve at the best of times. Still, more needs to be done by all to help alleviate the problems that create the need to become a pirate, if piracy is going to be eliminated.
Posts Tagged ‘ocean freight’
Piracy Continues to Grow, Ocean freight, freight transport
Thursday, January 21st, 2010Port of Houston Will Benefit From Panama Expansion, Panama Canal expansion
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010Freight transport in the Port of Houston will grow to unprecedented levels once construction of the $5.25 billion project to increase the freight capacity of the Panama Canal is completed? Drive down Highway 146 south of Houston and you’ll see an army of warehouses with an amazing variety of products and goods within them. Take a look around and you’ll also notice that new warehouses and other buildings are being built as we speak. Expectations are growing in Houston, Texas it would seem that the finishing of construction sometime in 2014 of the Panama Canal expansion, should increase freight transport in the Port of Houston.
The Panama Canal expansion will allow super-sized ocean freight ships to come through the canal, so they don’t have to travel around South America. The expansion will give them access to the American port that does more international cargo tonnage than any other, and is also the first American port between the Panama Canal and American customers, the Port of Houston.
Any super-sized ships coming from Asia travel to the West Coast of the United States, where goods and materials are primarily transported using rail or freight trucking transport. Other than this, these ships have to travel through the Suez Canal to reach the East Coast of the United States. The super-sized ships mean greater freight transport requirements will need to be met and this is probably why companies like Wal-Mart and Home Depot paid for millions of square feet of warehouse space to be built in Houston ports in recent history.
The expansion of the Panama Canal will alter freight transport for ports like Los Angeles and Long Beach, which have traditionally benefited by the inability of super ships to make it through the Panama Canal. The completion date of construction in 2014 could signal the beginning of a new age of freight transport for all American ports and a changing of the guard. At present about half of the 400 billion in goods that enter America from East Asia, do so through ports in California, Oregon, and Washington, but this will all change once the Panama Canal expansion is completed.
Eliminate Piracy on the High Seas?, Ocean freight
Monday, January 11th, 2010Transporting ocean freight is going to become a much more dangerous business in the years ahead. If you look at the increasing number of attacks by pirates upon vessels on an increasing number of bodies of water in the past few years, the trend can be seen in the numbers.
Ships are expensive pieces of equipment that are usually insured to the hilt. Even a smaller vessel represents a significant investment of resources. For thieves interested in making the greatest profit for the least effort, the opportunity to take over a ship and its cargo and ransoming them or selling them to the highest bidder, is a tempting and often convenient sin.
Just a few years ago attacks by pirates were mainly on the South China Sea and along the coastlines of Indonesia. In the past few years pirates have heard the call of ‘go west young pirate, go west’, as pirates have started to carry out their business in more westerly locations.
Removing the threat of piracy is going to be a difficult task because of the economic situation in the areas of the world in which piracy exists. The reason these individuals are relying on piracy in the first place is because it’s often one of the few jobs that has a high return for little effort that’s available in the geographical regions in which the individuals live. Until we address the economic situation of the regions in which piracy exists, we’re unlikely to have much of an affect on the levels of piracy in these regions.
The growth of pirate regions like Somalia is going to increase in certain regions of the world in the years ahead, unless we can address the economic situation of the regions and provide other opportunities that are less dangerous than piracy for those who probably feel they have no choice.
We could go the military route, but this would at best be a short-lived solution, as new pirate groups would surely emerge to take the place of those eliminated. There’s a new generation of pirates being born in these regions every week. The only real solution would be to enhance the economic opportunities for individuals in the regions of the world where piracy exists.