Nothing romantic about modern pirates

Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies are among the all-time top-grossing films, but they're a far cry from the modern, true-life piracy drama playing out along the coast of Somalia.

Using speedboats, pirates can capture millions of dollars of property by simply taking a few crew members captive.

Over the past year, there has been a 300 percent increase in attempted or actual attacks on shipping along the Somali coast, with about 17 ships and 300 crew members being held for ransom off the coast. An estimated $30 million in ransom for hijacked ships has been paid so far this year.

Complicating the issue is the possibility that insurance companies might consider counter attacks by the cargo ships' crew as unlawful use of weapons at sea -- leaving them an out for paying claims on the ships and cargos.

Quite a different situation than that faced by Capt. Jack Sparrow's victims.

Like pirates of old, however, the modern pirates have drawn the attention of the world's governments, with a German military helicopter chasing away pirates from an Egyptian ship carrying wheat from Ukraine to South Korea.

The helicopter was sent from the German Navy Frigate Karlsruhe, one of more than a dozen warships patrolling the busy sea lane off of Somalia.

And, the Chinese have dispatched a supply ship and two destroyers to join the fight.

China, of course, has a big stake in seeing cargo reach its destination safely, being poised to overtake Germany and the United States as the world's largest exporter in the next few years.

The problem is getting worse, and the coast of Somalia isn't unique in attracting pirate activities. They are more common around Southeast Asia, in places like Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Malacca Straits and the Indian Ocean. Others were reported in the Gulf of Aden, Tanzania and many off Nigeria, plus some off Guyana and Peru in South America.

Check out those presents you received for Christmas, and you'll probably notice that the majority of them were manufactured somewhere other than the United States.

Unfortunately, they will be less of a bargain in the future as we pay more as a result of crime on the far side of the world.