Resolution for the Comic Books

You know, live events can generate a lot of income for towns and cities. This is a known fact. Yeah. Taylor Swift's Eras tour famously stimulated the local economy in the cities it visited. The Federal Reserve even registered the impact. And Planet Money wants to help. Your city, which is why we altruistically of course are going on tour. No other reason. Yep. No the reason. And I don't know, maybe we'll call our tour the Sarah's tour. Cause I'm Sarah. I'll be at one of the stops. Again, another reason. It will be just as exciting as the Eras tour. Brand new stories, book signing for the team, some shops are gonna have game theory games, others will have big name interviews. All of them are gonna be filled with storytelling that explains how economics shapes your life. Get a tote bag with your purchase while supplies last. Think of it as our scarf. You can get tickets at planetwoneybook.com. This is Planet Money. N PR. Right now as we record this show Tuesday April fourteenth around two PM Eastern. Iran and the US are still blocking marine traffic from leaving the Persian Gulf. We have No idea how this is gonna play out. But we do know that it will have huge implications for the global economy. And For this guy. Testing one two. Okay. Who are you and what do you do? Uh Christian Sinclair. I'm the uh production manager at Fantagraphics Books. Yes, books, but hold on. This is not a show about the planet money book. It's about two books that Christian from Fantagraphics has been working on. are weirdly connected to the war between the US and Iran. I first called Christian a little over a week ago, just before the ceasefire was announced, and he told me about the books in question. One is uh Roberta Gregory's Bitchy. It's a collection of kind of feminist comics. And then Another one is Adventures into Weird Worlds. Books were printed in India, and Christian got word in February that they were on schedule to be put on an enormous and very, very hot pink container ship. The one Majesty. would get to the US in early April. Right on time for a book launch party. And then The war started and Iran effectively cut off these skinny waterway ships used to get in and out of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz. Not too long after, Christian was at a production meeting and a colleague asked, Do any of our books go through the strait of hormones? And I was like, No, I don't think so. I was like, you know, they usually just go straight through the Suez. And yet a couple weeks later Christian was wondering about the status of those books, and he googled the name of the bright pink ship, the One Majesty. I just thought it would like show up on Vessel Finder like it always did. But but I just plugged it in again. Only this time it's like, you know. It's like a Uga, one majesty has been attacked in the strain of hormones. And I was just like, Oh my God, you've got to be kidding me. Christian learned that the crew was safe. Cargo too. Apparently the attack left the ship with just a small hole in it. It was not going anywhere any time soon. It was stranded in the Persian Gulf. I mean, Christian sitting at his desk in Seattle, he knew these books were not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. There was a war going on. People were dying. Iran's blockade of the strait had cut off 20% of the world's oil supply and other important commodities like helium and fertilizer. For Christian, like many of us, the experience of the war has been kind of removed. We've mostly seen it at, you know, the gas pump. Christian has seen it with these books, which he kept checking on every day by looking up the status of that bright pink ship. For a long time if you looked up that particular ship on The marine tracking websites it just kept pushing out the arrival date by day, even though you knew that was Not gonna happen. And you know, and it's still literally showing it in the straight of Hormuz. Um And then I just checked it and It now says like the ship is Location unknown. Metaphor. Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Nick Fountain. As we tape this show, US warships are continuing their blockade of Iran, Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz, and a big portion of global commerce is still stuck. Cut off. Today on the show, we're gonna focus on a key sticking point between the US and Iran. The future of the straight up more moves. And ask How have ships been getting through the street? What does Iran's control of it mean for the global economy? And What's happening with Christian's books and that bright pink ship? This message comes from Avalera. What does running a business feel like with Avalara's Agenic AI platform for global tax and compliance? No hovering over the submit button, no asking for second opinions, no waking up thinking about a filing, no waiting for something to break. Because Avalara's Agentic AI handles it. Calculating, filing, validating, accurately, and audit defensibly. Automatically. Avalera, Agentic Tax and Compliance with Confidence. The US has been at war with Iran since february twenty eighth. And for that month and a half. Iran's main leverage over the US has been their control over the Strait of Hormuz. They've attack ships that try to pass without approval. And recently they've insinuated that one part of the street, the part near Oman. Is not safe. Maybe there are mines? Which means captains have to go right by Iran shores to get through the strait, effectively creating a choke point for the global economy. Last week on Tuesday, when President Trump announced a ceasefire, he said the Iranians had agreed to completely open up this trade. The next day, the ships in that area. Got a very different message. Transiting in data promo is closed yet. Transiting in the Strait of Mormuz is closed. If any better try to translate. We don't Will be destroyed. If any vessels try to transit without permission, they will be destroyed. Which was kind of a clue. Some ships were able to get through with permission. Maybe this was a way out for the bright pig chip? I wanted to figure out how that permission works. How do you get it and what does it cost? I started calling around. Yeah, but Yes. This is Nick Fountain. I just messaged I was honestly kinda surprised to get Hamid Husseini on the phone. He's not a government official, but he is very well connected in the oil and gas industry. He's a spokesperson for Iran's oil, gas and petroleum products exporters union. Where are you located these days? Are you in Tehran? Yes, I'm in Tehran. And How has the last Than half been for you. Okay, we must care about ourselves. Don't worry about us. Okay. We are safe. Hamid seemed relieved for the ceasefire, excited to be a little less on edge. What do you do for fun? I um uh play football. Football. Are you good? What is your record? All our players is more than forty years. We are old man. We are not the owners. You're the old guys. Alright, but back to the straight up horror movies. Hamid confirmed, yes. There is basically a toll system. In fact, he said. Just the other day, a friend of his, an Indian guy, went through the street and told him how it works. The friend had a ship full of oil, and that ship had been stuck in the Persian Gulf since the beginning of the war. He wanted to get it out. He wanted to get it to India. So the friend got in touch with the Indian government, who helped him broker a deal. He explained to me That he contact with uh Uh Revolutionary Guard to SEPA Navy. SEPA Navy. Okay. The Sepa Navy is part of the most powerful military body in Iran, an organization called the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Okay, and contact them and inform them I am interested to Uh hormone, yes. Hamid's friend got word that it was possible. But first, he had to send some information. Like? Ship name. country that it's flagged, where it's headed, what's on board, who's on board. Team. Okay, it's working in the West. Hamid said the Iranians were mainly checking to make sure the captain and the crew weren't from the US or Israel or Iran's other adversaries, and that the ship and cargo weren't affiliated with those countries too. Though he said, as far as he knows, the Iranian authorities were not verifying what m who was on the vessels by boarding or sending drones. Hamid's friend and his ship. Everything checked out. They check everything about personnel, about vessel, about flag, about owner, about Destination of the cargo, then they check everything. Then or then they approved. They approved. But his friendship could not pass yet. First, he had to pay At all. Before passing ask him pay for each uh barrel, one barrel, one dollar. Hamid's friend told him the ship had to pay $1 per barrel of oil. Keep in mind, these ships, they are big. Very large crude carriers, or BLCCs, carry 2 million barrels of oil. So these tolls could be as much as $2 million each time. Iran does not want to be paid in dollars, Hamid's friend told him. He told me pay. Uh by crypto. Crypto? Yes. Very limited time, they they gave him very limited time. Only five seconds. Five seconds. Five seconds you must pay. There are a couple reasons to not use dollars. Crypto helps everyone avoid US sanctions and also lets the Iranians move the money. Five seconds is extraordinarily quick. Was that an exaggeration? I don't know about the paid. He was successful to pay. Hamid says his friend's oil ship sailed through. And made its way to India. So you got this information from a person had an oil tanker. They confirm that this is the process. Hamid told me his contact at the Iranian Sepa Navy said. This is the system. I asked Hamid to connect us with his Navy source, we gave him this info. You wouldn't? Same tube with his Indian friend with the oil tank. Before I let Hamid go. Told him about Christian and the comic book stuck on the bright pink ship in the Persian Gulf? And he was like But it's in touch. May maybe can help him, maybe can help you. If if send information maybe we'll be able to help him. Seriously? Yes, uh if destination was not Uh USA. Asian country. No problem. Destination is New York City. Maybe Basically Hamid is saying since the ship is going to the US Christians only hope might be successful negotiations between the US and Iran. Okay. Stay safe and thank you so much for the time. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for anybody. Thanks. Okay. Bye bye. So it seemed unlikely that Hamid could help Christian and the bright pink ship. I also tried reaching out to the shipping company that owns the One Majesty, and they said they wouldn't comment on the status of the ship. There was one person I wanted to check with. Am I coming through your headphones? Yes. Perfect. Let's do this. Who are you and what do you do? Ryan Peterson, founder and CEO of Lake Sport. We've had Brian on the show before, and the reason I called him is because his company is at the center of global logistics and shipping. They have containers going every which way at any moment. He has sources at every major shipping company. He is very keyed into this stuff. I asked Right, hey, do you know what's happening with the bright pink ship, the one majesty, the ship that might have Christian's books on it? And he was like, No. We do have some containers stuck in the gulf, just not on that ship. He did have some info for Christian. And it was not good. Apparently, when it ship is damaged like the bright pink ship was. The ship owner might use something called the law of general average. And What General Average says is that If there's damage to some cargo on the ship. It's shared equally across all of the people who have cargo on the ship. So you all share in this together, including damage to the ship itself. It's actually you as a customer of the ship are liable And you're on the hook. Uh for that damage. If the law makes set makes sense in the If there's a disaster at on the high seas. The last thing you want is the sailors, the captain thinking about which cargo to throw overboard in order to save the ship. You're just like just throw the cargo overboard and we'll figure it out later. Which means Christian and his comics publisher, or their insurance company. be on the hook for damages sustained to the bright pink ship. While we had Ryan on the line. Might as well ask him the big question. What does a potential toll booth in the Strait of Hormuz mean for global shipping? And the global economy. He was like, Well on one level Just mean one more fee that makes everything a little more expensive. But also, it might mean a huge shift. Because for seventy something years, the US Navy has been guaranteeing the free flow of goods throughout the world's waterways. We really kind of take it for granted that That anybody can just sail anywhere and nobody's gonna attack your ships and there won't be pirates and other countries, navies attacking you. But this is a pretty new phenomenon. Um and so this is a huge Challenge to that order which Well maybe maybe the The U S Navy can't guarantee freedom of navigation anymore. Freedom of navigation, freedom of the seas for global commerce. It's it's the heart of globalization. And so and it's global commerce. It's uh on some level is the modern world that we're all used to. Yeah, the modern global economy requires the free flow of goods around the world. And that is in the balance right now. might explain why the Trump administration has made opening up the straight a priority in their negotiations with Iran. and responded with their own blockade to prevent ships from going to and coming from Iran. Because Freedom of the seas is such a big deal. I mean it would be Really big deal if you had a state in Iran. That is now able to kind of dictate terms to the United States of America that is the end of American order. Like that's the big deal. Like the the dollar value of the toll like doesn't really matter. But if you're saying, hey, the US Navy's no longer the big boss of the seas, like wow, that really changes quite a few things. I think would cause a lot of companies that are thinking in a big systems big picture kind of way to say, Hey Maybe Doing global long distance trade is is too risky. Maybe we should think about regional supply chains, maybe the US American companies start thinking about manufacturing In Latin America or even back in the US. And that would be an enormous shift. Speaking of enormous, after the break, an update from Christian on his books and the bright pink ship. He's got some news. This message comes from Great Wolf Lodge, where there is adventure for the whole family. You and your pack can splash away in the indoor water park, where it's always 84 degrees and filled with fun, from water slides to pools, a lazy river, and more. Plus, adventurous attractions, delicious dining, spacious suites, and daily entertainment all under one roof. With 22 lodges across the country, you're always just a short drive away. So bring your pack together at a lodge near you. Learn more at greatwolf.com. This message comes from Schwab. At Schwab, you can get everything from self-directed investing to full service wealth management, all in one place. No matter your investing goal, life stage, amount to invest, or know-how, you can invest your way. With Schwab. This message comes from Easy Cater, making it easy for organizations to order food for meetings and events from favorite restaurants, set up meal programs for their employees, and manage food spend all in one place. At easykator.com. Hey, how's it going? Good, how about you? A few days after I first talked with Christian, the comics guy, I got him back on the line. I was excited to tell him about all I'd learned. bad news about the law of general average, about what I'd learned about the tolling system from Hamid. And his sort of offer to smooth things over. Before I got to any of this, Christian told me that He had news. The books all the time. We're in India. Apparently the books were in India. Christian had thought that they'd made it onto the bright pink ship, the One Majesty, but that ship got way late in the Persian Gulf. The ship never even made it to India. So? Books never got loaded onto it. They were never on the ship? No, they were never on the ship. Hm. What a relief. Yeah, no no uh no potential toll fine. No toll, no law of general average, no blockade. In fact, just the day before, the books have been loaded onto a different ship. Also bright pink. Apparently that's the vibe of the shipping company. The ship has officially set sail. They're on their way. Yes. Incredible.