A mathematical programming model to promote international cooperation in defence missions against pirate attacks on merchant ship routes: the gulf of aden case study

In this work we address the problem of maritime piracy, which still poses a serious threat to global sea transportation and shipping. We first analyse the present instruments, recognized by international law, to prevent and repress piracy attacks, focusing on international naval patrolling activities as a particularly effective tool to combat pirate attacks. Due to the high cost of these naval operations, we consider an innovative variant of the set covering problem and present a new related mathematical programming model to locate in dangerous areas an international fleet to prevent piracy attacks while promoting cooperation between States and minimizing the overall cost. In particular, the major and novel contributions of this paper are twofold : a) the proposed model determines the optimal solution in terms of minimum cost mission that guarantees the participation of at least the desired number of States ; b) the use of the proposed model allows considerable cost savings for the States involved in the missions and guarantees safer routes for the shipping companies. Taking Somali piracy as a reference, we report a pilot case that demonstrates the general validity of the proposed approach for its effective use in the preparation of international missions aimed at reducing the phenomenon of maritime piracy. We believe that this paper may suggest to develop and use similar models to the one here proposed to address other complex problems involving the international community.