He expresses his frustration at what he claims is the international community’s lily-livered approach to the Somali pirates, where they are captured, released, or tried in an international court, saying, “the only language these pirates understand is force.”

“Sinking their ship will all hands aboard is the way to solve the problem.”

So far, the company is the only one who admits having armed guards on board, paying approximately one million dollars per month for its some 150 ships for the facility.

CEO Niels G. Stolt Nielsen has inherited his father’s uncompromising attitude, telling DN a few weeks ago that they have also used barbed wire and hot water to repel the pirates.

Last week saw two hijackings.  On Tuesday, Somali pirates seized Italian tanker Savina Caylyn in the Indian Ocean some 800 kilometres (500 miles) west of India, with approximately 60 million dollars worth of crude onboard.

Just one day later, another band hijacked US-bound tanker “Irene SL” off the coast of Oman with her cargo of crude to the value of approximately 200 million. This was one of the largest hijackings in the area to date.

High price

Despite the total of over 700 crew and some 30 vessels taken hostage to date, Jacob Stolt-Nielsen believes eliminating the pirates is worth the risk.

“It is conceivable the pirates would take revenge on the crews they are already holding hostage, one must realise this. However, this is war, and wars cost lives,” he says.

To justify his suggestion further, Mr Stolt-Nielsen draws parallels with history.

“Pirates captured in international waters have always been punished with death, often carried out there and then. The Romans had problems in northern Africa, the Vikings were pirates, and North African so-called

‘Barbary Corsair’ pirates controlled the Strait of Gibraltar for hundreds of years. The business will only stop when it starts costing the pirates too high a price.