BBC’s “The Box”, the year long experiment that explores globalization and world trade, has made its way into the States via the Port of Los Angeles.  According to the BBC website, the box arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday full of consumer goods including tape measures and fashion accessories.  The Box is continuing its journey on rail to New Jersey via Chicago.

The Box’s trip started in Southampton, UK last September, transporting Scotch Whiskey to Shanghai.  During that first voyage, the Box passed through the pirate infested waters of The Gulf of Aden.  gCaptain has actually received unconfirmed reports that a group of pirates did board the vessel and searched the cargo, but was quickly released when no rum was found.

In all seriousness BBC tells of the real problems facing The Box:

But the biggest challenge has come from the meltdown in the world economy.

For instance, the charter rates for container ships have plummeted by as much as 60% or more.

A few years ago shipping companies in South Korea, Italy or Scandinavia were enjoying an unprecedented boom.

There simply wasn’t enough capacity to ship all the cars, washing machines and lap top computers the world was snapping up.

The shipping companies built new ships, more expensive and bigger then ever before – now they don’t need them.

For now we are just going to watch and see where the Box will be headed next.  By they way, a FREE gCaptain t-shirt goes to the first reader to send us an ORIGINAL picture of the Box in the US.

The BBC World Service has recently released an audio documentary that takes a look at Piracy around the world. You can download the program HERE

Robbery on the high seas is not just confined to 18th century literature or Hollywood films, it is still very much alive today.

In the second part of his series on pirates, Nick Rankin travels to Mombasa on Kenya’s east coast to investigate the extent of the problem.

From ship-owners who have had to pay ransoms to terrorised crew-members, he finds out what is being done at an international level to make the seas of the world safer.

Part 2 – Modern day sea pirates

Ninety percent of the world’s trade is still moved by sea, so it is not surprising that piracy against cargo vessels remains a significant issue.

It is estimated that seaborne piracy costs the world tens of millions of dollars a year.

Piracy peaked in 2003 with 445 attacks around the world and since then, they have steadily come down.

In 2006 there were 239 attacks and last year the number increased slightly to 249.

Attacks rose by fourteen percent towards the end of last year, largely around the territorial waters off Somalia.

Potential targets

According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirates attack different kinds of vessels for a variety of reasons.

In Nigeria, pirates tend to attack vessels involved in the oil business.

In South East Asia, mainly small tankers, tugs and barges are seized.

Cargo is often stolen from barges and crew-members are kidnapped and held for ransom.

In Somalia, any merchant ship is a potential target and they are advised to stay at least 200 miles off the coat of Somalia.

Piracy is a growing business

Somalia is a unique problem as there is no effective central government and no navy to protect its territorial waters.

The country has also been at war for almost two decades.

As a result, many young Somali men are uneducated and have no concept of the rule of law. Piracy has now become a way of making a living.

Many foreign vessels fish in Somali waters ilegally, so militia groups have taken it upon themselves to tax those who do.

Pirate fisherman provide cheap fish for home markets and Somali pirates support their towns and villages.

That raises a key question: is helping your own people good or bad?

An organisation called ‘Taskforce 150′ has been in operation since 2003 to try and improve maritime security. It involves naval forces from America, Britain, Pakistan and many more.

Without help from other countries, it is very difficult to imagine whether Somalia will have sufficient resources and infrastructure to deal with piracy itself.

It is a project which plans to deliver content for television, radio and online audiences – telling the individual stories behind what makes the global economy tick.

The Box will hopefully reach the US, Asia, the Middle East , Europe and Africa and when it does BBC correspondents will be there to report on who’s producing goods and who’s consuming them.

From the start of the voyage in Southampton this journey will be a real one and whilst we are controlling some aspects of the process for logistical reasons the story it tells will be a truly representative one painting a picture of what globalisation really means.

The experiment is named after the book by Marc Levinson titled “The Box“, which is a great story of how the shipping container changed the face of world trade.

Links:

BBC News

Tracking “The Box”

Marc Levinson’s “The Box” on Amazon.com

John Clandillon-Baker of pilotmag has been featured along with his fellow London pilot (retired) Geoff Taylor in an article written by Libby Purves of The Times. This quote seemed to ring particularly true;

The human aspect of the job fascinated me. “I know what I’m getting into, from the first rung of the ladder and the angle of the captain’s head,” says Geoff. “I’m a psychologist, have to be. You get a sense of the ship – is it well run, is it happy, is it tense, how has it been for that month at sea? Is the master assertive or co-operative?” “Or bonkers,” says a Thames pilot. “A bad ship, you feel the rust on the ladder, you look up at the scruffy individual at the top who looks as if he’d like to stick a knife in you . . .” “You smell it,” says another.

The article can be found HERE and be sure to check back for a link to the BBC radio show of the same title.

The BBC has a great photo slideshow of the M/V Ice Prince sinking. You can find it HERE.

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Video of the Hebei Spirit Oil Spill In South Korea.

Video not working in your browser? Try the direct link.

Seajacking and phantom ships:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related Video:

• Chinese Pirates (part 2 of above series)
• Maritime Security Roudtable