The Panther Bay
Pirate Blog

A report by the Internatonal Chamber of Shipping/International Shipping Federation and the One Earth Future Foundation called "The Economic Costs of Piracy" estimates that the cost of piracy amounts to $12 billion per year.

In the ship-owner supported report, Costs of Piracy by the One Earth Future Foundation, economic hits include $31-million to prosecute pirates (750 of them in 11 countries); $2-billion borne by ship owners who hire security services, and the purchase of passive defences like barbed wire, flood lights, piracy mapping software and other protective kit. Ransoms worth $240-million were quietly paid out in 2010 for safe crew returns and ships that spent an average of 150 days in captivity.

Lloyds Market Association puts excess insurance costs due to Somali piracy at up to $3.2-billion per year, while re-routing “slow and low” ships costs upwards of $3-billion.

Cargoes stolen and diverted from Kenya and Yemen, Suez Canal fees lost by Egypt as vessels reroute, lost fishing and tourism to Mauritius, The Maldives and Seychelles add up to $1.25-billion a year, the report says.