Like Capt Ted, I don't think there's any chance of electrifying the wire because of the way it is allowed to slap against the hull.
Also, as the ship passed within 100 metres from me when leaving the dock an hour before that photo was taken, I was able to see it is apparently plain wire, not razor or barbed varieties.
I guess the idea is to cause anyone trying to board a great deal of difficulty as they would have to struggle through the wire or cut it.
If you look very closely, you can also see they have nets hanging within the mooring deck area. I am sure they don't intend going fishing so perhaps they are part of the precautions.
The ship is due to go through the Indian Ocean; its first port of call after Southampton was to be Jeddah and from there to the Far East.
What was remarkable about it was that although quite a lot of ships leave Southampton for the same route, I have never seen this sort of thing on any other ship.
