Pirates

Posted by: trubino on: November 18, 2008

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There’s a report that pirates have hijacked three supertankers over the past three days occurring off the coast of East Africa. These three hijackings bring the incident of commercial vessels rate up to 95. In 2007 it was recorded 31 incidents and in 2006 it was 10 incidents. The Sirius Star supertanker full of oil, which was attacked Saturday, weights an estimate of 300,000 metric tons carrying as much as 2 million barrels. An average cost of a barrel of oil is $88 causing the 2 million barrels of oil to be an estimate of $176 million. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal said “Piracy is against everybody. Like terrorism, it is a disease that has to be eradicated.” Michael Howlett is the assistant director of the International Maritime Bureau in London and his role is to track down pirate attacks. Howlett says “Pirates currently hold 17 vessels and 339 crew members’ hostage.”