The Chinese customs and
navy - especially along the southern coast - have often been accused
of working hand in glove with pirates.
False documents are an integral - and crucial - part of maritime
piracy. The IMB says:
"Many of the phantom ships that set off to sea with a cargo and then
disappear are sailed by crewmen with false passports and competency
certificates. They usually escape detection by the port authorities.
In a recent case of a vessel located and arrested in South-East Asia
further to IMB investigations, it has emerged that all the senior
officers had false passports. The ship's registry documents were
also false."
As documents go electronic and integrated in proprietary or common
cargo tracking systems, such forgery will wane. Bolero - an
international digital bill of lading ledger - is backed by the
European Union, banks, shipping and insurance companies. The IMO is
a proponent of a technology to apply encrypted "digital signatures"
to electronic bills of lading. Still, the industry is highly
fragmented and many ships and ports don't even possess rudimentary
information technology.
The protection afforded by the likes of Bolero is at least a decade
away.
Pirates sometimes work hand in hand with conspiring crew members
(or, less often, stowaways). In many countries - in East Asia, Latin
America, and Africa - Coast Guard operatives, corrupt drug agents,
and other law enforcement officials, moonlight as pirates.
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