Somali pirates have sent shipping insurance rates skyrocketing around the Horn of Africa – but there is one secret weapon the merchant navy is having success with.
Instead of having Lloyd’s of London Hit Me Baby One More Time with higher premiums, merchant navy officers are driving away pirate raiders by blasting Britney Spears hits like Oops! I Did It Again.
“These guys can’t stand Western culture or music, making Britney’s hits perfect,” says Scottish merchant navy officer Rachel Owens. “They’re so effective the ship’s security rarely needs to resort to firing guns — as soon as the pirates get a blast of Britney they move on as quickly as they can.”
The sailors crank up the pop music at extremely high volume when initial warnings fail to deter pirates – with great effect.
“The speakers can be aimed solely at the pirates so as not to disturb the crew,” Owens told Britain’s Mirror, adding that pirates will often wear earplugs to avoid hearing the songs.
According to Steven Jones of the Security Association for the Maritime Industry, the pirates should consider themselves lucky to have to suffer only a blaring Britney Spear, as he considers one other singer to have the potential to create much greater collateral damage.
“I’d imagine using Justin Bieber would be against the Geneva Convention,” he joked to reporters. (continued.)
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Ron Eldridge, senior vice president of Marine at Marsh Canada, told Insurance Business Online that the uncertainty on the political world stage – like the problem of Somali pirates – contributes to the reluctance of investors to put their money into shipping.
“The economy at large continues to be a major factor in decisions being taken by business leaders, influencing shippers, receivers and ship owners,” he says. “They are reluctant to spend money because of the uncertainty globally – both financially and in the political sphere – which creates an element of doubt and uncertainty.”
Pop music as a weapon is nothing new. Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet reportedly used the songs of Julio Iglesias to torture political opponents in the 1970s, and U.S. army units used songs by Spears and Eminem as an offensive tactic during the War on Terror.
“Playing loud pop songs has been proven as one of the most effective ways of fending off attackers,” a spokesman for the British Association of Private Security Companies stated, adding that there is a selection of music made available to each security detail.
