21,000 vessels transit the Gulf of Aden every year; that's almost 57 a day. Weighing the imposed costs of contemporary maritime piracy against the prospective costs of equipping all of these ships with weapons or security detachments, plus enhancing port security measures and policy to accomodate foreign-crewed and heavily-armed ships... I don't anticipate arming merchant ships or their crews being accepted as favourable options.
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