Freighter Repo Man

The Telegraph has a story about a man who's found himself a very interesting line of work. He's actually involved in broad range of issues dealing with maritime shipping and has quite a few different interests. The author of the article, Richard Grant, writes, "He works as a maritime lawyer, a ship surveyor, an insurance adjuster, a pilot and flight instructor, a stuntman for films and television, a blues drummer in New Orleans bars, and a scattershot business entrepreneur."

But the most interesting part is his work as a sort of repo man, someone who steals back freighters that have been seized.

Hardberger is a 62-year-old adventurer from Louisiana who specialises in stealing back ships that have been fraudulently seized in corrupt ports, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean.

He describes himself as a 'vessel repossession specialist’, a kind of maritime repo man who ghosts into tropical hellhole ports, outwits the guards and authorities, and ghosts out again with a 5,000- or 10,000-ton cargo ship, usually under cover of darkness and preferably during a heavy rainstorm.

For a measely $100,000, he'll swoop in and take back your seized freighter, whether it involves negotiations, brides or just outright stealing it from under the noses of the harbor guards and coast guard. The article details many of these adventures he's had over the years and is well worth reading.

He's even got a bad-ass name, Max Hardberger (if you put in your kid's name both "max" and "hard," it's doubtful you're expecting to raise a pushover).

Probably the least surprising part of the story is that "A Hollywood film about his escapades is planned, with The Good Pirate as a working title." That could potentially be very interesting if it does get made.

The Telegraph has a story about a man who's found himself a very interesting line of work. He's actually involved in broad range of issues dealing with maritime shipping and has quite a few different interests. The author of the article, Richard Grant, writes, "He works as a maritime lawyer, a ship surveyor, an insurance adjuster, a pilot and flight instructor, a stuntman for films and television, a blues drummer in New Orleans bars, and a scattershot business entrepreneur."

But the most interesting part is his work as a sort of repo man, someone who steals back freighters that have been seized.

Hardberger is a 62-year-old adventurer from Louisiana who specialises in stealing back ships that have been fraudulently seized in corrupt ports, mostly in Latin America and the Caribbean.

He describes himself as a 'vessel repossession specialist’, a kind of maritime repo man who ghosts into tropical hellhole ports, outwits the guards and authorities, and ghosts out again with a 5,000- or 10,000-ton cargo ship, usually under cover of darkness and preferably during a heavy rainstorm.

For a measely $100,000, he'll swoop in and take back your seized freighter, whether it involves negotiations, brides or just outright stealing it from under the noses of the harbor guards and coast guard. The article details many of these adventures he's had over the years and is well worth reading.

He's even got a bad-ass name, Max Hardberger (if you put in your kid's name both "max" and "hard," it's doubtful you're expecting to raise a pushover).

Probably the least surprising part of the story is that "A Hollywood film about his escapades is planned, with The Good Pirate as a working title." That could potentially be very interesting if it does get made.

Freighter Repo Man