National prosperity grows from the holds of a merchant ship. Merchant ships are uniquely well-suited to moving large quantities of cargo over long distances. It is, for example, less expensive to ship coal from ports in South Wales to Italy than it is to send that coal by train from Cardiff to London. Shipping cans of corned beef from Brazil to Harwich in the U.K. is less expensive than sending those same cans of corned beef onward by train or truck to Birmingham. As a result, it is estimated that more than 90 percent of international trade goes by sea. As long as the cost advantages of shipping goods by sea remain in play, the need to protect international shipping will remain. However, the cost of protecting trade routes is rising all the time. The anti-piracy operations off Somalia cost much more than the losses incurred.
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