The Economic and Environmental Cost of Pirate Avoidance

The Economic and Environmental Cost of Pirate Avoidance | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article The Economic and Environmental Cost of Pirate Avoidance Renato Molina, Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez, Gavin McDonald, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8148893/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Modern-day piracy is a pervasive problem for the global maritime industry, yet its economic costs are largely unquantified. We address this gap by pairing a detailed dataset of pirate encounters with satellite tracking information of more than 26 million shipping voyages from 2012 to 2023. Our analysis reveals clear patterns of avoidance behavior following piracy attacks, leading to increased travel costs of US$1.3 billion annually. Accounting for environmental damages from harmful emissions adds another US$4.1 billion in annual welfare losses. These estimates highlight the substantial cost imposed by piracy on international maritime operations, as well as the potential benefit from global anti-piracy measures, which we estimate could be funded at a fraction of current losses. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences/Environmental impact Scientific community and society/Social sciences/Economics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8148893","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":551850592,"identity":"c6d7bb65-736d-47ab-a100-c0adf32bb18b","order_by":0,"name":"Renato 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