New Post (134) : Go chase the Somali pirates
Some background (…& I QUOTE this one very interesting educational Q&A)
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---High Seas Trading - WHAT is it?
In short High Sea sale is when the cargo is already loaded on a ship and sailing on the high seas (international waters, under no jurisdiction) without actually being sold to the final buyer yet. Seller is looking for a buyer, while shipment is on the way. Once the cargo is sold, the captain of the vessel is notified to change course and deliver it to the new buyer’s port. Usually the ship is sailing in a certain direction (example: from Brazil to Middle East). Seller is looking for buyers in destination area (which in this example can be any Middle Eastern country, India, Pakistan, etc..)
---What is the REASON for selling on High Seas?
High Sea sale is done to avoid the burden of Local Sales Tax or VAT which would otherwise have to be paid by the final buyer if the cargo was first bought by the importer and then re-sold to the final buyer. What High Sea Sale does, is put the final buyer in the position of direct importer thus saving him an additional tax. For that reason, goods bought on the high seas, while the ship is in international waters are between 25% - 5% cheaper for the final buyer (depends on the Local Sales Tax / VAT rate in buyer’s country).
---Is High Sea Trading LEGAL?
“High seas sale” sounds like something done hush-hush in the middle of the ocean like we see in the movies. Which is why you have instinctively raised doubts about its authenticity and legality. Let me assure you, “high seas sale” is a perfectly legal transaction though the term might have a mysterious ring to it. High sea sale is simply turning the final buyer into direct importer, and thus saving on the Sales Tax / VAT which would have to be paid on the re-sale if the importer was involved as a middle man.
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If you survived that....erudite legalese.....then....read on.....
2. Now here is the catch:
Export vast quantities of sugar at a low price [ under the pretext of earning precious foreign exchange for your country ! ] thus creating an acute shortage locally in the country and a consequent huge spurt in local prices to consumers. Then { rise to the occasion grandly and } re-import the very same sugar from the high seas, at up to 3 times that out-going price…using the O-so-convenient high seas trading “modus operandi”.
It happens……………and NOT just with sugar.
This is piracy on the high seas. Legalized piracy. The difference ? The ransom is paid by common households. Who is it paid to ? I am not telling. Not here.
3. To my O-so-dumb friends in the news media as also to my O-so-smart friends in the news media who take us for being O-so dumb, I have this to say:
By all means---“Go chase the Somali pirates”.
That makes for a better …thrilling high adventure & riveting human drama… itsy-bitsy story !
Anything. To keep the truth from being told. The truth that needs telling.
PS: I enjoy my cup/s of tea without sugar. Tastes better. So I do not care anyways.
Charlie Brown
