Quote:
Originally Posted by Letum
I'm not convinced that government's or navies need to do anything.
The shipping company can surely hire out their own private security. If they
chose not to because of the cost then it is their own ships they are putting
at risk.
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I totally agree with this. Diplomatic efforts should be focused on making naval security firms permissable in as many nations as possible.
Quite frankly, convoys are not a workeable option. Modern trade is heavily dependant on "just-in-time" delivery. It saves on storage and demurrage costs and makes products cheaper. Unless you're all willing to pay a few more dollars for "pirate-safe" products, this isn't going to happen. And then of course there is the cost of operating and maintaining the escorts, which would be astronomical.
Convoys are too expensive and inflexible to be conducive to modern trade whether they use a relay system or anything else.
Arming merchants presents a similar problem in that lots of nations won't allow armed merchants into their waters or ports. Naval gunnery is a difficult art to learn and can be highly inaccurate unless some sort of fire control is used. Shipping companies are not going to buy FCS systems, nor are they going to train crews to operate naval artillery.
Even if they did, someone would have to be on watch for the pirates, which would probably mean permanently increasing the crew roster. No shipping company would like that plan.
Private security firms avoid these problems. They are very flexible and effective. They are already well-trained, and the small arms they would bring aboard would be more than enough to stop a handful of a$$holes in a motorboat. They could be embarked and disembarked almost on demand. They could even avoid a lot of weapons controls because there would only be a need for them at a few ports, thus making the problem more manageable.
Of course, the conduct of private military contractors has been questioned many times, but I am of the opinion that this has more to do with unfair press coverage than anything else. That's another post entirely but I'd be happy to argue on behalf of the PMCs. I had the priviledge of working with Blackwater employees in Iraq and I was very impressed with them. Much moreso than I was with our own troops.
