Pirate Mercs

Of course, as usual.

You are playing pirate hunter in your wild, premature phantasies.

Nowhere in the world are you permitted to have 20mm gun on board! Your Remington toy has a range and power the pirates do not even laugh about. They have machine guns, bazookas and Kalashnikovs. They wipe you out on a distance.

I have said it ALL on my previous posts. You are not allowed BY THE FLAG STATE OF THE FREIGHTER !!!! to bring armoured forces on board. period

Dealing with ONE state, the flag state of the support vessel is another thing and probably solvable. (Djibouti is a possible place) Having permission to refuel in Salalah should not be a very difficult task as well.

And I had shotguns aboard for skeet shooting, for more than 20 years, but that is completely off topic.

Bostons friend asked for sound advice, and I gave it! And then the adventurers and war heroes chimed in, talking their macho crap.

Commercial shipping is not yachting, get it!

Regards
Richard

 

Ah so you do read my posts --Kind of.

But to put you right again as you shoot of at a tangent. I am not hunting pirates. I did not say I had a 20 mm. My Remington was to protect me from opportunist fishermen through the Malacca straits in a yacht that you have not done. You can own a 20mm. It is not chosen as it is too big to hide --damn you know nothing.

You drive a ship into a terminal and before 48 hours your out at sea again what do you know?

About half your post is exitable rubbish. Why don't you read first.

The thought of doing a build with you is just torture to think about. Had any takers? I wonder why.

 

It is senseless Frosty, and it is boring too.

YOU are talking your yachtie crap, this thread has nothing to do with YOU and your yacht. YOU are completely off topic.

I did elaborate in deep why it is´nt possible to bring armoured forces on a freighter. At least not on a scale this sort of business would require.
I did elaborate in deep about political reasons and issues, and why shipping business is not able to solve related problems.
I did provide sound advice choosing the right vessel for the planned task, and even provided calculations, later proven to be right on spot.
You, on the other hand, are talking just theories which are not applicable due to several, mainly political, reasons.

senseless...........

 

The ships? where Malacca,--- its Malaysia!! who is the states? There is no states. What the united states? I have no idea what you mean.

But Yep --thats what we were discussing. Would you mind if we carried on? Or should we stop now because you say thats not viable.

May we carry on please and talk amongst ourselves.

 

Cyprus strongly advises against having firearms on board for protection BUT its legal to do so with a Cypriot flag.

I also found UK flag firearms for protection is banned.

 

It IS NOT WORTH Frosty, YOU DRIVEL.

In the Malkka straits the ships are in territorial waters of a nation (I said state, like flag state), which allows armoured forces on board.

The flag states of most ships do NOT permit that while in international waters.

So easy is colour TV!

and now I´m definetively out here.........

 

Around my area, if you commit a crime with a gun you get the death penalty, first and then punished for the crime second.
Depending how good the police are you either get no guns or shootouts till death.

Considering piracy has been going on around Singapore for centuries, a boat with dead people floating around who are never identified or claimed is not that unusual. Before guns ( and many pirates dont use them) the molatov cocktail was the choice of repellant so the dead bodies usually turned up burnt as well.
Most pirates cant swim so will burn in their boat. I just cant imagine the fear of swimming so cooking instead.

 

Business input

Groundpounder: OK, light-fighter. I’ve been reading this with a mixture of amusement and horror. Because you’ve served our country, I’d like to take the time to provide some insight into where your path is leading. First, my background: I retired from the Army in 2007. I retired as a Special Forces LTC and spent my last few years at USSOCOM managing the funding used for GWOT. I’ve spent billions of dollars on the type of non-standard, paramilitary personal services contracts you are hoping to get with the shipping companies; so I know something about the subject. I’m now in my second career, as the Chief Financial Officer for a Private Equity firm – so I know about funding private ventures.

Banks won’t loan you money for this venture. If a bank is willing, they will want you to put up about 50% or more of your own money and sign a personal guarantee of somewhere around 120% of the amount borrowed. Personal guarantee can be your property in the Hamptons, your steel mill, your $5million investment portfolio etc. But they want something they can take that can’t be moved out of the country. Since you won’t find a lender, you’ll need to go to a Venture Capitalist. They specialize and they aren’t stupid. With all due respect, I’ll talk to you like a VC investor will: Since you have no experience in these operations, you are a significant risk. Before we even talk, I want to see the resume or curriculum vitae for all your key guys. If I don’t see mostly SEALs, Special Forces, MARSOC, Rangers (not the tab, but guys who’ve been in the Regiment), and Brit or Aus SAS, then I won’t return your call. The only conventional military I care to read about are Navy Surface Warfare Officers, Coast Guard, medical guys and engineers. I couldn’t care less about conventional Army and Marines with 1-3 years in Iraq, that qualifies them to be ammo handlers here.

Since you are untested and your vessel is barely held together, we’ll have to take out a performance bond so if you are unable to perform you mission (mechanical, weak knees, etc) we can make good on any losses suffered by the carriers. The cost of that bond will come out of your share of cash flow. After a couple years experience, we’ll revisit this point. We won’t be able to get insurance, so this makes my risk go up as an investor. If you want my money (and you don’t have another choice), all free cash flows after paying income and expenses (expenses include all salaries but yours; maybe we’ll negotiate a small stipend for you) will be split. Because of the risk of this investment, I will take 90% of all free cash flow until I get a 20% compounded return on my investment and after that we’ll split cash 60:40 (with 60% to me). I’ll have a bunch of green eye-shaded guys look at your detailed budget and make calculations on how long before I get my 20%. If your budget has holes, I’ll stop returning your calls. If your business plan looks like it was written by a 1st year MBA candidate, I’ll stop returning your calls. If you don’t prove to my satisfaction that your vessel and crew are up to the task, I’ll stop returning your calls.

Sorry to be so blunt, light-fighter. But if I let you drive on without plugging some reality in here, I wouldn’t be doing you the service you deserve as one of our countries best. I’d recommend that before you make a multi-million dollar capital investment in this poorly thought out plan, take a job at another company until you learn the ropes Remember, Eric Prince has his own money and can get 500 SOF applicants overnight; he’s your competition. Good luck.

 

Or, round up all the cash you can get from friends and relatives, show the banker how responsible you are and say you want to buy this boat and turn it into a yacht - then go do business. VC will break you.

 

Maybe the guys were just thinking of how banks were.....last year?

 

And the pirates have just received their biggest ransom so far.

Something fishy here, no one is dying so no one cares.

 

A update:

From "Maritime Professional" today

Piracy approach a failure, say Hong Kong shipowners

A furious statement by the Hong Kong Shipowners’ Association reflects the frustration felt by shipping firms at the world's inability to prevent pirate attacks.

The Hong Kong Shipowners’ Association (HKSOA) has called for governments to throw out the current response to pirates menacing ships off the Horn of Africa, accusing the international community of tolerating piracy instead of eliminating attacks.
This approach was sending out the message that piracy carries little risk for generous reward, the association said in a statement.

More than 1,500 seafarers have been taken hostage for ransom, often for months at a time, said the HKSOA, despite significant measures shipowners have taken to defend their crews.

The HKSOA has demanded a more robust approach from the international community.

This is a stance that will resonate across the shipping industry that is becoming increasingly frustrated with pirates who seem able to operate with impunity. Military patrols in the Gulf of Aden have prevented many attacks but the pirates have simply moved far out to sea.

The HKSOA questions why motherships that ferry smaller and faster skiffs deep into the ocean are not found and disabled or detained. Instead, pirates are allowed to return to these deepsea bases and continue their attacks.

“It is extraordinary that governments today seem less able to protect shipping than they were almost 200 years ago,” the HKSOA lamented.

The association makes the point that if airlines were being hijacked as regularly as ships in the Indian Ocean, the response would be far more robust. There is merit in this argument. One failed attempt to bring down an airliner bound for the US on Christmas Day and airports have begun profiling half the world. Yet even though ships carry 90 percent of global trade, scores of pirate attacks and millions paid in ransoms are allowed to continue.

Waiting for democracy in Somalia to solve the problem has been suggested as an option, but it is a terrifically poor one. Somali democracy revolves around one man-one AK-47, rather than one man-one vote, and the sad reality is that the country will still be a basket case when Rip van Winkle wakes up.

There is only one way to tackle piracy, just like there was back in the days of buccaneers, Blackbeard and the skull and crossbones – bring out the guns. Blow pirate skiffs and motherships out of the water and this scourge of shipping will end.

There is too much money at stake on both sides for a kid gloves approach to work. Only when pirates know as they put out to sea that there’s a good chance they won’t return alive – or in the next few years – will they seek out a new profession.

by Greg Knowler on 1/19/2010

Regards
Richard