If you think oil companies are the only ones making a killing on crude, think again. Somali pirates, the Indian Ocean's most annoying sailors, have hit the big time again, reeling in two oil tankers in two days for what looks set to be a hefty payday.
Somali pirates snagged the U.S.-bound oil tanker *Irene SL *today as it sailed through the Arabian Sea near Oman. The big catch comes only a day after pirates hijacked another oil tanker, the Italian-owned Savina Caylyn, at a whopping 800 miles off the coast of Somalia.
Pirates have expressed a preference for attacking oil tankers because of the high ransom payments owners are willing to shell out to get their pricey cargo back. And in the past, they've commanded some record prices. The Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned oil tanker hijacked by pirates in late 2008, fetched $3 million for its release, around double the going rate at the time. Last year, pirates broke ransom records with the a $7 million payout for the Greek oil tanker, the Maran Centaurus, only to surpass it with a $9.5 million ransom for South Korea's Samho Dream.
With the Savina Caylyn potentially holding up to $63 million worth of oil and the Irene SL hauling about $200 million worth of cargo, it might be a good time to put some money in the pirate stock market.
It's an investment with growth potential. The price of ransoms has been on the upswing over the years. Pirates took home an average of $5.4 million per ship last year -- a total haul of about $238 million that year -- making 2005's average of $150,000 a ship seem like a bargain.
Statistics compiled by the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Center show that pirates were able to hijack 49 vessels and take over 1,000 hostages last year, a slight increase over the 47 vessels Somali pirates snagged in 2009. The increase took place despite presence of anti-piracy patrols from a number of countries in the region. While piracy went down 50 percent in the Gulf of Aden near the warships patrols, pirates have spread out, according to IMB statistics, increasing their attacks in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.
Consider the Irene SL and Savina Caylyn hijackings to be just a prelude of what's to come as pirate season heats up. April and May, just a short while away, have traditionally been the most active pirating months as the end of monsoon season brings on calmer waters. The seasonal increase, combined with fears over a "piracy war" driven by allegations of pirates torturing hostages, could make for more fireworks at sea.
Photo: EU Navfor
See Also:
- Somali Pirates At It Again (Updated)
- New Use for Lasers: Blinding Pirates
- How To: Cut Deals With Pirates, Start Classroom Revolts
- Iran vs. Somali Pirates in Thug Navy Showdown
- Mercs vs. Pirates: Deadly Shootout on the High Seas
- Pirates Hit Six More Ships Off of Somalia
- Pirates Stopped by U.S. Warships (or Bad Weather)
- Navy Pirates Wired With Online Sea-Jacking Game
