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This is Planet Money from NPR.
Maybe the worst possible call you can get if you run a big global shipping company would go something like this.
Unfortunately, the Picardy has been attacked.
There is a fire on board, and I will ring you back after I have more details.
John Woven Smith got exactly that call last month.
The Picardy is a cargo ship owned by John's company, Jenco.
And it was in one of the most dangerous places for a ship to be right now.
Off the coast of yemenite, where a militant group called the Houthis has been attacking ships for months now to protest Israel's war in Gaza.
They say for weeks before the Bacardi was attacked, John had been preparing to get the ship out of the Red Sea.
Right.
And so before the ship started its journey, they made a plan.
The Picardy would turn off its tracking signal.
John would get a status update from the captain every 30 minutes.
They doubled their security detail to six ex military people with rifles.