The Pirates of Somalia_ Inside Their Hidden World - Jay Bahadur [105]
The group’s transportation and fuel expenses included three items. Hersi related that the gang had two Land Cruisers on permanent retainer, primarily to transport members between Garowe and Eyl. In Puntland, a Land Cruiser rents for $200–$300 per day; assuming the pirates paid twice that, the cost of their premium shuttle service would have been close to $60,000.
The second item was the diesel used to power the Victoria’s emergency generator. During the first stage of her captivity, the crew used this generator to provide the electricity for everyday conveniences: lights, the mess, air conditioning, and so on. But by June, the Victoria’s supply of diesel fuel had been depleted. The crew then resorted to the extremely inefficient process of generating electricity using the ship’s main engine, until, shortly after I left Eyl, the supply of bunker fuel reached critically low levels and the engine had to be shut down. At this point, the pirates began to ferry drums of diesel from the shore to power the emergency generator, which, according to Levenescu, they only turned on at night. Marine emergency generators typically have a power output of around a hundred kilowatts, and consume twenty-five to thirty litres of diesel per hour at full load. Given the expense, scarcity (due to the remoteness of Eyl), and logistical difficulties in moving large amounts of fuel from the skiff to the deck of the ship, it is likely that the pirates did not operate the generator above half its full capacity. If they ran the generator between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m., at a cost of about $1.50 per litre of diesel (double the norm), they would have spent $225 on fuel during each of the Victoria’s final twenty-five days in captivity. Added to this bill was $6,800 for the four tonnes of diesel the pirates brought on board to power the ship’s fuel heating system, in preparation for the Victoria’s release.
The gang’s third transportation expense consisted of fuel for the supply skiffs, which two to three times daily ferried people and provisions to and from the Victoria. During my trip to Eyl I was lucky enough to witness the loading of an early morning transport (including the unfortunate goat), which was powered by a twenty-five-horsepower outboard motor. Assuming that each round trip took about fifteen minutes, the daily gasoline consumption for such a motor would have been about eight litres. With local gasoline prices at roughly $2.50 per litre, the boat would have consumed $20 of fuel per day.
As the Victoria’s captivity wore on, the gang became increasingly paranoid of outside attack. To defend themselves, Hersi related that they purchased two PKMs—standard-issue Soviet machine guns—and three thousand rounds of ammunition. Such weaponry is surprisingly expensive, even in Somalia; assuming that they paid twice the regular price, the total cost of these arms would have been around $30,000.
Food and drink were the least of the gang’s expenses. Hersi said that the gang purchased and slaughtered two goats daily: one for the guards on the ship, and the other for the crew. Breakfast might have consisted of goat liver, or beer, perhaps served with injera bread in an onion and potato broth, and lunch and dinner would probably have been fried or minced goat meat served on pasta or rice (supplied free from the Victoria’s overflowing hold) with bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, bananas, and limes. Accompanying the meals (and each khat session) would be sweet tea, 7-Up, goat’s and camel’s milk (to sop the rice), and bottled water. In Garowe, a goat costs roughly $25; using credit in the remoteness of Eyl, the pirates paid the inflated price of $100–$150 per goat. The cost of all other ingredients would have added up to no more than $100 per day.
The Victoria was held captive from May 5 until July 18—a total of seventy-five days—of which seventy-two were spent anchored at Eyl. Assuming an average of twenty pirates on board at a given time (the “company” was not responsible for