Today's operating systems are completely different from those of a decade ago. Increases in flag-of-convenience ships and multinational crews, and larger and automated ships, have made it harder for ships to protect themselves from external attack. The most severe problem is the automation of ships.
Once the average number of crew members per ship was approximately fifty. Today that number has decreased by one half. As a result, ship security has declined and also the ability to cope with invaders has been reduced.
A second factor is insufficient information about damages, i.e., no possibility to have an efficient counter measures against pirates because of the difficulty of knowing the extent of the damage by piracies. The IMB receives approximately 200 piracy reports yearly, but these are presumed to be just the tip of the iceberg.
At the harbors of developing countries robberies are daily occurrences, and the money and valuables are never returned even if reported to the authorities. Once an incident is reported, the reporting unit might be delayed for a long investigation. Even a day of shipping delay means losses as large as millions of yen. Anyway, the perpetrators are not be arrested and the cargo is covered by an insurance policy. Thus even fewer reports than previously are submitted to legal authorities. Moreover, if an incident is publicized, the shipping company's reputation for reliability is damaged. Thus even fewer reports are made when the losses are small.
Under such circumstances, without accurate damage information, it is hard to take efficient measures against pirates.
A third factor is a lack of measures against pirates. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, piracy is that illegal violent action and/or internment and seizure on the high seas. International law states that every nation has a right to arrest and punish by naval ships or by other government authorized ships. However, when such crimes occur in territorial waters (the internal waters including those inside a harbor, the territorial sea, and the archipelagic waters), they are domestic crimes of each coastal country and the capture and punishment are left as the responsibility and the right of each coastal state.
In principle, law enforcement authorities cannot enter a third country's territorial waters to exercise jurisdiction, such as chasing the criminals.
To distinguish crimes committed in territorial waters from piracies, the IMB uses the term “armed robberies.” To avoid confusing readers, I use only the term “pirates” or “piracies,” for both activities occurred in open seas and coastal waters.
Such restrictions are a big disadvantage for law enforcement authorities, while the pirates are maneuvering freely as if there were no borders on the seas. With present restrictions, there is no future for taking efficient measures against pirates. Today, most of the activities for piracy information, such as collection and distribution of the information, are conducted by the IMB, a private organization. A cooperative system among law enforcement authorities for search activities, such as information exchange system and hotlines, has not evolved sufficiently. Necessary information exchange and communications mainly depend on diplomatic channels.
