Why don't ships traveling in areas prone to piracy hire mercenaries?

The general feeling is that the confrontation has not been militaristic as yet and if the ship mercenaries start shooting at the pirates, the pirates will initiate an ever escalating cycle of violence against the ships.

A lot of harbors do not allow armed ships, and the insurance companies are not keen on the idea either.

Do you mean “contractors” like Blackwater, or actual Mercenaries? Mercenaries would be illegal under international law.

Might be nice to also reduce the numbers of reasons they attack ships.

Because you are the real pirates, so that would be weird beyond the realms of weirdry

A lot of ships travelling along the horn of Africa do have private guards. But, like @jbor said, most ports don’t want militarized ships.

That said, I feel like I read that a lot of these cargo ships have been equipped with crazy-powerful water cannons and speakers that blast a high-pitched sound that helps deter pirates. Which I think is kinda cool.

Some do. And they put a lot more than 5 on board.

@mammal huh?

I’m pretty sure some do.

I would send an aircraft carrier near the Somali coast. Fighter jets can cover a large area.

@mattbrowne The EU has a task force deployed (codenamed Operation Atalanta). The US also has it’s own dedicated anti piracy force deployed in the area (codenamed CTF151 – which I have to say is not quite as cool a codename as the EU’s). Fighter planes may be able to cover a large area (the area of ocean involved covers a million square miles) but they are not designed to engage the small boats the pirates are using and at altitude probably can’t even see them.

@Lightlyseared – Well, they should add an aircraft carrier to Operation Atalanta. Fighter planes flying low over the small boats the pirates are using might deter attacks, don’t you think?

@mattbrowne I think the problem is actually the spotting of the small boat in the first place so that you can get your plane to the right spot.