(Source: BBC)

Somali pirates are reported to have received a total of $12.3m (£7.6m) in ransom money to release two ships. They are believed to have been paid a record $9.5m (£5.8m) for Samho Dream, a South Korean oil tanker, and nearly $2.8m (£1.7m) for the Golden Blessing, a Singaporean flagged ship.

“We are now counting our cash,” a pirate who gave his name as Hussein told Reuters news agency. “Soon we shall get down from the ship.”

News reports indicate the drop was made by a Helicopter. All crew members of the two vessels (five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos in the Korean vessel and 24 Chinese nationals in Singaporean vessel) were reportedly unharmed and sailing out of the area.

Click here to read the entire story.

Note: I have a serious question – Now that Security agencies know the location of the pirates, can they be intercepted enroute to the shore?  That would be somewhat cruel but a priceless ordeal to watch. After all, the Wall Street folks get taken to task when their bad work comes to light and it makes for great TV.

Related articles

• Report: Somali pirates releases SKorean ship (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Report: Somali Pirates Release South Korean Ship (foxnews.com)
• Pirates accept ransom, release supertanker with $160M cargo: report (thestar.com)
• Kenyan court frees 17 suspected Somali pirates (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Somali pirates hijack ship with 20 passengers (sfgate.com)
• Somali pirates hijack ship with 20 passengers (ctv.ca)
• Somali Pirates Seize Cargo Ship With 24 Aboard (foxnews.com)
• “Somali pirates get record ransom” and related posts (rocketnews.com)
• German ship freed by Somali pirates (reuters.com)
• Kenya Frees 17 Pirates Caught by U.S. Navy (abcnews.go.com)

(source: Ananova, Wirtschaftsblatt & Slashdot)

Somali pirates - Image Courtesy: Apture

Select Russian ocean liners are offering  pirate hunting cruises on armed private yachts. £3,500 a day buys you a cruise close to the coast of Somalia and up to Kenya. The ships deliberately cruise close to the coast at a speed of just five nautical miles in an attempt to attract the interest of pirates.  When the ship is attacked, a squad of ex-special forces troops fights back with grenade launchers, machine guns, and rockets, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt.

Passengers who want to earn their stripes can pay an extra £5 a day for an AK-47 machine gun and £7 for 100 rounds of ammo.

The yachts travel from Djibouti in Somalia to Mombasa in Kenya.

“They are worse than the pirates,” said Russian yachtsman Vladimir Mironov. “At least the pirates have the decency to take hostages, these people are just paying to commit murder,” he continued.

An editors note found at the bottom of this Wirtschaftsblatt article says “Goldman Morgenstern & Partners tells us, that “they believe”, this story is “satire”.

TransportGooru Musings:  Hope this is a hoax.  It is appalling to even think that any government will authorize “hunting” humans and conduct that as a business, just because the “hunted” ones are pirates.  Russian government as such as earned a bad reputation for its alleged human rights excess and for failing to rein in the xenophobic thugs that attack people of color.  If they happened to let such a business take place in their watch, it can be worth calling the UN Security Council (which, as  an apex body has not done anything good lately).

(Source: NPR’s Planet Money)

 Even pirates need a business plan. J. Peter Pham, an analyst of African affairs at the James Madison University, looks at the economics of guns, captains, and $2 million dropped into the sea in waterproof containers. Plus, Per Gullestrup, CEO of Danish shipping company Clipper Group, has dealt with pirates first-hand — he says they’re tough negotiators.  When he ironed out the ransom details with the pirates, he had 3 demands:

1. The pirates showed “proof of life” (that the crew was still alive)
2. That they could drop the money from the air (faster than getting it there in a tug)
3. That the pirates fill up the ship with fuel.

 For a related story on NPR’s Planet money, click here.