How to Thwart Success in Piracy: Core Strategies of Security

Abstract

Many piracy security experts agree that the level of lethal violence will continue to accelerate resulting in “small wars” on the open sea [Christie C (2011) Piracy likely to escalate into small wars says expert. Maritime Reporter and MarineNews Magazine Online (March 24, 2011). Available online www.marinelink.com/news/escalate-likely-piracy337708.aspx]. If the events begin to resemble “small wars” then new security defenses are needed. Vessel operators can learn from military strategy to adopt company strategies that reduce the ability of pirates to be successful.

In this paper, we draw upon NATO defense strategic initiative framework in proposing a company core strategies model for security against piracy. There are four core strategies in this model:

• 1. Defense strategies which provide tactics and processes to defend against an attack;

• 2. Deterrence strategies which provide structures and designs that prevent the taking of a ship under attack;

• 3. Gaining and using intelligence strategies which buy or invest in knowledge on how to thwart piracy attacks; and

• 4. Cooperation strategies which sharing tactics, resources, and process across competitors and other companies to collectively thwart attacks.

We evaluate the International Maritime Bureau and Sea Wed data on piracy events for the last 3 years in light of this framework. We test which strategies or which combination is most successful in thwarting success. Findings reveal that adopting the four core strategies model reduces pirate attack success. Further, we also find that deterrence strategies are most consistent and successful in thwarting pirate attacks.