Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to research the nature of the ransom paid to Somali pirates and to examine the effects. Here ransom is the sum of money where in the same sea voyage when the ship, cargoes and the crew members are seized by pirates that the ship owner or the cargo owners would pay to the pirates in order to redeem the ship and cargoes and to release the crew members.
The attacks of Somali pirates have posed great threats towards the whole world as the sea route through Somali sea area is one of the most important marine transport routes for international trade. So far no effective solution could be found to solve this problem. When a ship is seized by Somali pirates, the ship owner would always choose to pay the ransom to redeem the ship and cargoes. Such loss of ransom is substantial and is detrimental to the operation of the ship owner’s business. If the whole loss must be borne by the ship owners, then in the long term the marine transport industry would be negatively impacted. Hence it is wondered if such loss of ransom could be shared by other parties. If so, how and to whom can such contribution be claimed?