Reply #22: I'm sorry, I thought I asked for a commercial vessel [View All]

[northzax]

not a yacht. People on yachts do, unfortunately tend to get killed by pirates. but people taking large vessels, especially off the Horn of Africa, are more interested in ransom. it's tough to ransom a dead body, you know? crew are worth a lot more alive than dead. but by all means, call Gurka Manpower, Ltd or the good people (and I use that term liberally) at Hart Group in Bermuda.

in the straits of Malacca, violence is more common (although not all that common, there have been the incidents leading to deaths in the past 15 years, and several hundred vessels a day pass through)

think in pure economics. in order to protect say, a capesize container ship (like something that might go around the Horn) you would need perhaps 20 mercenaries to be sure (given that you need at least ten at any time on deck, the ship is probably 600 feet long, after all) a twenty day trip, 20 mercenaries at $1000/day. that's $400,000. XE (nee Blackwater) will be happy to provide you with an armed escort vessel carrying twelve mercenaries for roughly $30k a DAY. you know how valuable your cargo has to be to make that financially worthwhile?