The ships "nightmare" of the pirates of the high seas: a floating bunker practically impossible to board

Maritime piracy is no longer about stealing gold and jewelry, but rather material goods, oil and… kidnapping people for whom ransoms are demanded. It is a huge problem and, taking into account that 90% of world trade is still transported by sea, it is logical that countries and companies take precautions. This can be through laws that allow for greater security measures on ships or by building ships invulnerable to pirate attacks.

Well, almost invulnerable, since these maritime fortresses have a weak point.

Heritage of World War II. When we think of cargo ships, container ships come to mind. They are the ones that carry that merchandise from one place to another, but we also have oil tankers and ships. roll-on/roll-off. They are also known as RORO ships and their origin dates back to 1849 with the ferry Leviathan. It allowed a freight train to be transported on the Firth of Forth, in Scotland. It was like a moving bridge.

In World War II, however, the first ships designed so that vehicles could enter and exit directly on land were built, being designed for tanks and other military vehicles and with ships such as the HMS LST 3041 as one of its exponents. Later, this same ship was used as a commercial ferry, being one of the first RORO ships in history.

RORO ConRo Boats. From that moment on, there were companies that began to build car ferries and, within the RORO category, there are variants for different cargoes, ConRo being vessels that can transport both vehicles and containers and other large cargoes. On the outside they are quite curious, since it is as if a container ship had a deck because we do not see the merchandise: we only have the hull (whose interior is like a huge warehouse) and the deck.

Before this system, cars were transported like normal cargo: they were loaded on board, the batteries were disconnected and they were tied down to ensure they did not move, but it was a tedious process that made loading and unloading cars extremely slow. With the RORO system with ramps, operators could drive the car to its “parking space” inside the ship, speeding up the entire process.

They are not simple freighters. That is why the protagonists in RORO ships are the vehicles, and it is something that has defined the design of these enormous ships. You cannot carry cars on the deck, since inclement weather and the sun would destroy the bodywork, but you also need the more space the better to store as many as possible. There is no need for windows for cars, so the design of the hull is practically smooth.

Furthermore, and we're already talking about pirates, it is a highly desirable commodity that can attract the interest of vessels that want to board the RORO ship. Due to this design of high walls and no imperfections in the hull, pirates have a very, very difficult time holding on to anything in a boarding attempt. They are like a bunker on the water, a huge battleship practically impenetrable from other vessels.

It depends on where the pirates board. Now, they are not invulnerable, something that has recently been demonstrated in the Red Sea Crisis. Houthi rebels have been attacking several objectives and one of the first, and main, episodes of the conflict was the boarding of the Galaxy Leader, a RORO attacked by water, but by air. As? Well, basically the assailants boarded it using a helicopter, quickly capturing the bridge of the boat and its 22 crew members.

Huge maritime freighters often carry an escort, something that serves as a tool of persuasion or, in more critical situations, as a last line of defense. ROROs, due to their physical characteristics and not being so sensitive to “traditional” piracy, do not need major security deployments, but perhaps attacks like that of the Galaxy Leader will make these measures rethink.

Image | Hoegh Autoliners, Trey Yingst

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