A Scottish company has launched onto the global shipping market the first comprehensive software product designed to combat the increasing problem of modern-day piracy at sea. • The cost of piracy in 2011 is estimated at $7 billion / £4.46 billion (including increased security spend and ransom payments). • The numbers of hostages and size of individual ransom demands also increased over the same period. Marine MTS, based in Aberdeen, has developed Sentinel, which tracks user vessels remotely. As well as helping the user plot a safe route through problem areas, the software will automatically alert emergency or military services should something unusual happen on board.