Choke point: hijacked super tanker exposes vulnerability of energy supplies.

• Author: Frodl, Michael G.
• Position: Energy

The hijacking on the high seas by Somali pirates of a super tanker carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil destined for the United States created many troubling precedents and makes the vulnerability of energy supplies quite clear.

No less than the chairman of the Joint Chiefs expressed amazement at a hijacking 450 nautical miles out to sea. Most hijackings have occurred closer to Somali waters, usually 50 miles out at most, or in the nearby Gulf of Aden. The hijacking of the Saudi "Sirius Star" crude carrier was something that many piracy experts argued couldn't be done. The $25 million ransom, which previously averaged $1 million to $3 million at most, was another precedent.

Because of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, the hijacking leaves us with no choice but to defend the supply lines long into the future.

Somalia's implosion as a functioning nation dates back to the early 1990s. Soon afterwards, the United States attempted to protect humanitarian food deliveries that were being intercepted by warlords. Mission creep led us to "Blackhawk Down" and was followed by a retreat of the U.S. military from Somalia.

A region without much of a functioning national government attracted all sorts of trouble. International industrial fishing fleets were tempted by the unsupervised waters and over-fished with impunity. Criminal gangs in Europe saw Somalia as a good place to dump hazardous waste. And foreign Islamists found refuge in Somalia, too.

Somali fisherman formed their own "coast guard" in an attempt to repel the foreign fishing fleets. When that proved ineffective, some realized that "fishing" for foreign ships was more rewarding than going after dwindling fish stocks. Somalis turned the lack of an effective coast guard and police to their advantage. Pirates in other countries sometimes keep a ship, repaint it, remove all markings and sell it and its cargo to people who don't ask questions. But Somalis have made a specially of grabbing ships, kidnapping crews and holding them for ransom.

It didn't take long for this cottage industry to get professional. Fishermen started using better weapons, hiring paramilitaries for boarding parties and "geeks" to run the high-tech tools. Clan members in the West procured their pirate cousins satellite phones, GPS devices, computers, and cash advances, all in exchange for a percentage of the ransom. Most ship owners paid the ransom after a few months of haggling. Somali ransoms became a sort of "toll" that had to be endured by shippers--not insignificant, but not prohibitive either.

Soon the fishermen were negotiating for million-dollar ransoms. At any one time they held maybe 200 to 300 crew members captive. The life of a pirate became something for young...