The Economics of Piracy

I suppose I was fully aware that pirates were paid ransoms to release ships and their crews. However, it was only recently that I discovered an entire arm of the Insurance Market devoted to this subject.

Having become aware of it as a fact of life in the world of piracy , I then discovered that it was also a highly secretive market. Unless you were a bona fide shipowner you were not going to be handed information about the details of such a policy. Anyone trawling the web will find policies apparently available to download. In fact, they are simply non committal documents designed to satisfy the curious without giving anything away.

I was told - and of course it is quite obvious - that if any such details were to come into pirate hands then it could prove detrimental to the wellbeing of hostages, as said pirates would know exactly how much to ask for in a ransom demand and also who to direct their request to. Perhaps it is one way in which maritime bodies can keep pirates in a slightly uncertain position, Sadly, Paul and Rachael Chandler carried no such insurance and with the British Government's refusal to negotiate with their captors they seem doomed to continue their sad, static existence.