BulletProofBlog the blog on crisis communications

While recent events have brought the issue to the forefront of international debate, shipping companies have dealt with rampant high-seas piracy off the East Coast of Africa and in Asian waters for years.

Some larger companies have crisis communications plans to deal with the media and other audiences when a piracy event occurs. But beyond that, corporate communications about piracy has been muted, probably because in the overall scope of the shipping industry, it has been considered one of the non-material travails of working at sea - much like navigating through storms and war zones.

Of course, that is now likely to change. And as a result, shipping industry leaders may be forced to be more transparent about their anti-piracy policies in stakeholder communications - because despite all of the media coverage in recent days, most audiences still don' t understand the complexities of dealing with such a situation.

For example, the best bottom-line decision is often to pay pirates' ransoms. That is because the safety of crew members is the top priority and piracy-related legal liabilities from customers, crew families, and insurance interests may far outweigh the total cost of the ransom. Of course, such a decision can easily roil those steadfastly against giving in to criminal demands - which is why the reasons behind not implementing other options must be communicated more openly than ever before.

Shifting routes to avoid pirates can add days, even weeks, to port-to-port shipping engagements. At an average of US$60,000 a day to operate a ship such as the Maersk Alabama, extended delivery schedules can jeopardize just-in-time contracts. Adding round-the-clock armed guards to protect vessels is also a major fixed expense - and it carries the significant risk of generating bravado-filled shoot-outs that will inevitably result in deaths of people who are neither pirates nor guards.

Shipping executives must recognize that the anti-piracy risk management practices they have considered routine (and above all, discreet) for years are now fair game for the media, Congress, and other activists. Captain Phillips' saga has fundamentally changed the way shipping companies must communicate about piracy - and until international law enforcement solves the problem, shipping companies must adjust to a new era of transparency.