What is the impact of Somali piracy? Despite extensive media coverage of the subject, not very many people, especially outside maritime security circles, have a clear idea. Travelinsurance.org, an online resource for travel insurance, has employed information graphics (infographics for short) to present a composite picture of the number of piracy attacks and successful hijackings in 2011, where they occurred and the financial and economic cost of this modern-day scourge. Take a look and be enlightened:
Source: www.travelinsurance.org
As long as no-one expects me (or other experts!) to take this seriously, it does make a good kiddies educational tool! For kids aged 11 – 55!!
Come on, John. Education has to start with the kids. LOL.
True!
But anything starting with references to the (very) old chestnuts of Johnny Depp and Captain Hook leaves me cold and distinctly unimpressed. And how come it’s only taken them 6 years to produce this stuff?
I applaud the cute info graphics but believe the presentation still fails to connect to answer the every day citizen’s question – what does this mean to me? What have been the changes per year in military expenditures and how have they reduced costs of piracy to the industry and the ultimate consumer? After all is said and done, piracy is a tax on the consumer. What percentage tax might that be? I believe the relatively low percent tax will explain public complacency. Perhaps applying the tax just to the cost of petrol in Europe or the USA might garner more political awareness from citizens of those regions. The sad stories are those Filipino, Chinese, Malays and West Indian sailors who are held captive and their families suffer at home from a complete cut off of support. How many itinerant sailors without the means of ransom languish under the clouds of uncertain fate? This addresses the moral issues of crime and unacceptable consequences on a human scale. This suggests that the fight to suppress piracy should be rationalized on much more than purely economic rationale.