Ransoms

[CosmicGamer]

Already do, for that gulf...

Rescue of the crew isn't the insurer's priority. It's the vessel. Even the crews life insurance payout will be dwarfed by the ship losing a cargo, let alone the ship.

This may be true for the insurance company.

For the shipping company, if the total costs of operating through an area [in our RL example: increased ship insurance costs, increased employee pay, cost of lawsuits due to employee deaths and whatever else] exceeds the benefits [RL: shorter route than going around]....

Losing the ship is not a huge loss to the shipping company. The ship and it's cargo is insured.

It is also in the pirates best interest to not kill the crew, even if they do not collect a ransom for them.
Currently, crew are taught to evade, hopefully long enough for 'rescue' to arrive. Once boarded, crew are instructed not to resist since their life is not in peril.

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Just a rough calculation on my part, but due to the rarity of a ship being taken over by pirates, the average cost per ship for a $3 million payout on the one that is taken comes to approx $10,000 per ship. As mentioned before, there could be an additional increase in 'hazard pay' for all ships operating in the area if crews are killed and not just detained. I could also see million dollar lawsuits from families. Don't know how many crew are on each ship or how much the additional pay would be. IMO, I think this would make crew no so expendable, and the cost of losing crew not so dwarfed: to the shipping company. For insurance companies, if they don't negotiate for the crew as well as the ship, shipping companies may start going the longer route [which has lower insurance premiums ].

As someone pointed out, few people want there to be a crackdown on piracy in the area because there are too many people making money.

 

[aramis]

Losing the ship is a huge cost, not so much for the monetary value of the ship (and the cargo), but the hits on the short term for loss of cargo capacity for 2-3 years while you replace said ship. Plus the shipper is out the goods, which is another expense.

losing a ship, you always have to figure your losses based upon how long until you regain capacity, not just until the insurance pays out. It's at least a year, usually 2-3, according to the shows I've seen, to get a container ship built.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Losing the ship is a huge cost, not so much for the monetary value of the ship (and the cargo), but the hits on the short term for loss of cargo capacity for 2-3 years while you replace said ship. Plus the shipper is out the goods, which is another expense.

losing a ship, you always have to figure your losses based upon how long until you regain capacity, not just until the insurance pays out. It's at least a year, usually 2-3, according to the shows I've seen, to get a container ship built.

I believe the cargo is also insured.

One of the things the RL pirates need to do is guard the crew and make sure they don't scuttle the ship and blame it on the pirates.

Bring in the bean counters. Lets see, a write off for lost property and depreciation on a new capital asset comes too... The new ship may generate more profit in the long run once it is in the fleet. Faster, utilize less fuel, require less maintenance, need less crew to operate, and so on.