Pirates, Inc.

After reading & watching coverage of Somali piracy on the high seas, I don't think I'm alone in forming a simple mental picture of who these guys are.

A bunch of guys with guns hop into a boat and motors out towards a large ship they happen to see off the coast of wherever they live.

Highwaymen who use boats.

Except I'd be wrong.

The other day, I'm watching news coverage about why the various patrols in the area aren't catching many pirates: the area of operations is fricking massive. Like ten times the size of Texas massive.

Somewhere in the back of my brain - I wondered...  

Modern navies cannot locate pirates in all of that space, yet somehow pirates are able to find their prey in the same amount of ocean.

Erm...HowDatWoik?

That's about as far as I took it. The kids set something alight, or I saw something shiny and *poof*

But this morning, I'm catching up on my podcasts and I listen to Planet Money's Pirates Have Timesheets episode

-which is a rather eye opening look at how Somali pirates do what they do.

Hopping into a boat with guns is part of it, but all the pirates face at least three logistical challenges that require more organization:

1) The ocean is big.
-As in, their speedboats will run out of gas long before they reach a target. They need a base ship capable of cruising the deep ocean. This boat launches the speedboats when a target is near.
-Speaking of targets that are near: No way a ship just runs into a suitable target without knowing it's out there. Basic espionage/corruption in key harbors or chokepoints like the Suez can get you what you need, but they require manpower, communications and (above all) money.

2) Not all targets are suitable.
Some countries/companies don't pay. If you grab a ship from a poor country or a failing firm, you might never get paid. This means better intelligence from your spies to tell you who's healthy enough to pay, and when their ships are passing through pirate territory.

3) Not everybody speaks your language.
-Once you take the ship, you've got to deal with the owners and (odds are) they don't speak Somali or Arabic. You need an interpreter, and that means you have to pay someone to negotiate the ransom.

Planet Money does a great job of illustrating these points and even interviews a Danish ship owner who had to negotiate with pirates to get his ship and crew back.

The owner describes a bizarrely businesslike transaction where he refuses to pay above the market rate for piracy. Negotiations go back and forth for weeks before he and the pirate negotiator (a lawyer) settle on an amount.

Head spinning stuff. Take a listen.