Definition by Wikipedia

“Piracy is a war-like act committed by private parties (not affiliated with any government) that engage in acts of robbery and/or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons travelling on the same vessel as the perpetrator (e.g. one passenger stealing from others on the same vessel). The term has been used to refer to raids across land borders by non-state agents. Piracy should be distinguished from privateering, which was a legitimate form of war-like activity by non-state actors, authorized by their national authorities, until this form of commerce raiding was outlawed in the 19th century.”

So, in our industry we can assume that the description “pirate parts” does not exist – The correct description should be “alternative supply”.

For example, a fuel nozzle produced by L’Orange and purchased by an engine builder would be an original part. However, if an identical nozzle is purchased from another source this would be considered as an alternative supply. There are many such suppliers, some better than others – agreed, but is too easy to generalize.

Warranty of course is definitely an issue, lifetime as well, but as with the case of the nozzle, we have many other identical cases with other components.

It is well known that problems with specific components take time to solve, mainly due to the fact that the engine manufacturer has to take many things into consideration. However, this does not serve the clients immediate need, therefore alternative solutions are needed. I fully agree that the engine builders can support 92 % of their customer’s requirements, but sometimes it is the remaining 8 % that keep the vessels in operation. Also, the engine builder cannot reschedule and re-arrange production due to one client’s requirements. Further, most of the alternative suppliers have general conditions and insurance beyond what is normal, in fact, better than some of the engine builders. We need to be critical, but not blind or deaf - else, we could end up in monopolized marked. The question would then remain… Would we have a better situation than exists today?