Blackwater: You’re Missing a Contract
By Mark Devlin, IEN Staff
January 8, 2009
April 21, 2008 -- Pirates Attack Japanese Tanker Near Yemen
November 18, 2008 -- Pirates Capture Saudi Oil Tanker
November 21, 2008 -- Fears Grow for Hijacked Supertanker Crew...
November 25, 2008 -- Pirates Strike Again Off Somalia; Ship from Yemen Seized
December 2, 2008 -- Pirates Chase, Open Fire on U.S. Cruise Ship
January 2, 2009 -- Pirate Attack Averted on Greek Tanker Off Somalia
January 2, 2009 -- Pirates Attack French Vessel Off Nigerian Coast
January 7, 2009 -- Hostages Freed from Pirates Off Somolia, Nigeria
It’s been going on for years, and will continue for the foreseeable future: Piracy. The stakes were raised just before Thanksgiving when pirates seized the MV Sirius Star...
...one of 24 tankers owned by Saudi Aramco. It’s said to be the largest ship ever seized by pirates, measuring nearly 1,100 ft in length and carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil. For perspective, that’s nearly a half million barrels more than the capacity of the Exxon Valdez.
Even the word piracy doesn’t get the point across. Too romanticized. Too many “Arrrrrr, matey” references. Say the word ‘terrorist,’ however, and the reaction will be much different. How much difference is there between them, really?
Imagining attacks on the high seas might even bring to mind powerful, high-dollar, offshore boats. From the photos...
...we’re not seeing that in reality. We are seeing, however, some fairly serious weaponry including shoulder-launched missiles, automatic weapons, etc.
It’s happening off Somalia, Nigeria, and Kenya, mostly in the Gulf of Aden near the Horn of Africa. It’s happening to crews of a truly international nature. While the U.S. is involved in cooperative patrols of those areas, our own fighting forces aren’t (yet?) involved. It’s happening to someone else in a place far, far away. Doesn’t affect us, right?
Why is this such a hot area for piracy? Location, location, and location. The Gulf of Aden is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, connecting Europe to Asia and the Middle East through the Suez Canal. It’s an efficient route that saves fuel for the world’s merchant fleet—which carries about 90% of the planet's traded goods by volume.
It’s not even in U.S. waters, so it’s less to worry about. Ah, but there are many elements: “News of the attack raised crude oil prices on global markets following an earlier slump, Reuters news agency reported.” And another: international supply chain disruption. (I wonder if the next generation of SCM software will soon include a “Whoops—Hijacked” notification and adjust accordingly.) And another: Somalia is a lawless country, "caught in an Islamic insurgency." It’s not had a functioning government in more than 17 years. So, ships also deliver humanitarian aid to the area—ships threatened by piracy. And another: Shoulder-launched missiles can certainly blow a hole in the hull of a tanker, according to referenced articles. Also, angered pirates could just start opening some valves. Not rocket science. Quite the environmental threat, eh? We’ll never have another Exxon Valdez, right? And another: shipping company insurance premiums are expected to rise substantially because of the pirate activity and, of course, those costs, too, will eventually be passed along to the consumer. And another: some shipping companies are rerouting their cargo traffic through other, safer areas—but the routes are longer and, thus, more expensive to use. More pass-along costs. And another: cruise ships and hostage situations.
The pirates aren’t disparate, rag-tag independents as is the mythical (Captain!) Jack Sparrow. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the pirates are well trained and very good at what they do. Huh.
The pirates dock the hijacked vessels near the Somali coast and negotiate ransom—which they typically receive. Generally, this averages to a bit less than a million dollars a pop. Estimates indicate that pirates have been paid more than $30 million dollars in 2008 alone on the seizure of about 40 vessels. The Saudi government says it won’t negotiate with pirates, but leaves shipping companies to do what they must. As recently as three weeks ago, about 14 ships remained in the hands of pirates.
Ship crews are small, typically unarmed, and untrained in defense. In the case of a Chinese ship hijacking, crew members fought off an attack with Molotov cocktails and water hoses. Not the greatest weaponry, guys, but kudos for your efforts.
It’s not only oil tankers. It’s cargo ships, chemical and liquefied natural gas transports and, in the Dec. 2 incident, a U.S. cruise ship was involved—with 1,000 people aboard.
Not really a problem? Take a look at this Google Maps depiction of attempted (yellow) and actual (red) attacks as of Jan 7, 2009...
Not only does it look like a problem, and not only has a U.S. cruise ship been targeted, but notice the pointers even around South America. Not all that far away, in relative terms. It’s the terrorists! It’s Al Qaeda! Well, no. Various U.S. government spokespeople have said that there’s no evidence of such a connection.
Okay. Besides oil prices, environmental issues, supply chain matters, global trade considerations, and other elements mentioned above, how does all of this relate to engineering?
It doesn’t yet. But it should.
Here’s an example of how some ships are warding off pirates:
Seriously? Yup. A scarecrow. Molotov cocktails. Water hoses. That’s the best we can do?
Unless private, trained militia are hired to man and defend ships (Hey, it works in Iraq, right?), this is an IDEAL problem for engineering to solve. While the U.N. and some countries, including the U.S., patrol the pirate-infested areas, patrols just aren’t going to cut it. Tough to kill a mosquito with a shotgun. Also, blowing stuff up, which we love to do, might cause some, er, international issues.
Shipping companies need ways to protect their cargo without forming their own armies. So, it keeps pointing back to engineering a solution.
Here are some things that might work.
Death Rays
Once you stop laughing, consider for example, Tesla’s death ray, generally described in a 1940 issue of the New York Times. The FBI said they don’t have it. This source, probably not a particularly credible one, granted, says that Russia not only has one, but that it’s been used on their helicopters in Afghanistan. Yes, it gives one pause to see “Instant Death” in an operational graphic. For the more skeptical, here’s an interesting piece about the feasibility of a death ray, on the MIT site. Particle beam death rays were even part of the U.S. Star Wars program. A later variant is described here. Many caveats include, for example, that it is only a niche device “designed to attack stationary terrorists”. Close enough.
Those are but a few examples.
Let’s Put Mr. Pirate in the Microwave
This example would be a bit cumbersome to move around a ship, but it’s an idea. It’s called a Vehicle Mounted Active Denial System...
I deny your boarding. Zap. Mr. Pirate gets very, um, warm...and keels over in pain. Works for me. Just make a smaller, on-the-shoulder version and shippers will buy them by the hundreds—and might even pay a quarter of a million apiece. There are other variations. Skeptics, please see this link over at IEEE. This is very real, fairly accessible technology. This time last year, the U.S. Air Force Research Lab threw $60-$75 million at a microwave weapon project. Seems power requirements, size, and beam control are issues on the drawing boards. Well, folks, you now have a huge, international, deep-pocketed group of potential customers outside of the military. Get crankin’. (What better place to put a gargantuan power supply than on a ship?) “There’s a pirate! Wait. I need to plug this in.” Doable. Plenty of interesting links around for this stuff, like this one which says that experts—as far back as 2003—believed that the U.S. had the capability to use microwave weapons in combat.
Gort! Klaatu Barada Nikto.
Okay, okay. That command told Gort to chill, not kill. Reverse it. Despite the fact that the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still stands as an example of how not to remake a wonderful, prophetic, classic sci-fi, it had a couple of cool concepts. One was discussed in a previous blog on IEN.com—insect-sized robots. (In the remake [Spoiler Alert!], Gort wasn’t one, single robot. It was comprised of zillions of Earth-destroying, insect-sized robots.) Fantasy aside, tiny, airborne, programmable, sensing—and perhaps armed—robots are easily conceivable and not that far off in the future. Again, the piracy crisis is a potentially great application for miniscule, flying robots. They could be directed relatively easily, with even a basic vision system being able to distinguish ocean (the reflective blue stuff) and not-ocean (the pirates). There’s certainly funding available--deep funding for an engineering/technology company that comes to the table with a potential solution. Heck, we don’t even need weapons on ‘em. Just give them the ability to sting the right people. Here’s another fairly recent article about this technology, on Military.com.
Other technologies are certainly conceivable, such as directed electromagnetic frequencies (Again, harkening back to the original The Day the Earth Stood Still). We don’t even have to kill or maim the pirates, though those approaches have merit. We could fairly easily develop a technology to instead kill their boat engines. We could electrify the hull of the target ship, perhaps only in above-water, limited areas—just enough to fend off an attack. Heck, even a cloaking device, today, isn’t all that far-fetched.
Conspiracy theorists might consider The Philadelphia Experiment. Pirates attacking? Move the ship. That’s just a tad out there, granted but, as an aside, there’s a fascinating documentary about The Philadelphia Experiment from The History Channel on YouTube.
We could go all Waco on ‘em and play Culture Club music really, really loudly so they’ll turn and flee in horror. That just takes some big speakers and amps, and solid ear protection for the tanker’s crew. (Maybe we could yodel at them and their heads would explode as did those of the aliens in Mars Attacks. There is no evidence, however, that yodelling will affect pirates in any way.)
Really, how difficult could it be to use engineer a solution against this...
There’s industrial technology that could be applied here. Many forms of related technologies and engineering principles could be used—profitably—to stop this international mess (soon to be a bona fide crisis)—without military intervention.
Got any other ideas?
References
Live Piracy Map – International Chamber of Commerce Crime Services
Somali Pirates Risk Choking World Trade Route
Germany Calls for International Court to Prosecute Pirates
China to Send Three Ships to Somalia to Battle Pirates
UN Gives OK to Land, Air Attacks on Somali Pirates
U.S Cruise Ship Escapes Fire from Pirates in Gulf of Aden
Russian Frigate Escorts Danish Ship Off Somalia
Maersk Says Re-Routing Some of Fleet Due to Piracy
Somali Pirates Release Ship After $1.1 Million Ransom
Pirates Briefly Rattle Oil Market
Hijacked Supertanker Anchors Off Somalia
Sirius Star Launching Ceremony Press Release
World Super Powers Can’t Stop Somali Pirates? (Forum Post)
Pirates Capture Saudi Oil Tanker
Pirates Hijack Oil Tanker in Brazen Attack
Piracy Spurs Threat to Shipping Costs