Shipping insurers are considering setting up the world's first private navy in modern times to combat the threat posed by Somali pirates.

In 2010, there have been 123 attacks and 33 seizures. Maritime insurance companies have paid out $300 million in ransoms over the past two years.

Graeme Gibbon Brooks is the Managing Director of Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service, a private security company. He joins David Foster from Hastings in England.