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Cyber attack could cost Maersk US$59m in lost revenue: expert

DANISH shipping giant, Maersk Line, could have lost US$59 million in revenue in the first twenty hours after it was hit by the so-called "Petya" cyber attack on Tuesday, affecting the company's liner shipping and terminal operations.

This is the view of Lars Jensen, CEO of maritime cyber security consultant Cyberkeel and CEO at SeaIntelligence Consulting, who said in an article on LinkedIn that Maersk Line ships nearly 3,300 TEU per hour, generating a revenue stream of $2.9 million per hour. For the first 20 hours alone since the start of the attack, this added up to roughly 66,000 TEU and $59 million.

Although this does not mean Maersk lost this level of business, as likely a number of customers will simply postpone their bookings for a little while, the longer the outage lasts, the more customers will start to shift their cargo volumes to other carriers, Mr Jensen explained, according to American Shipper.

The maritime industry's vulnerability to cyber attacks is a topic that has been covered extensively at CyberKeel since 2013, Mr Jensen said.

"We have specifically warned repeatedly against the likelihood of ransomware (and similar) attacks," he said. "A key component in the cyber defense for such attacks is having a solid plan for reinstalling everything from back-up."

Maersk issued a notice confirming that some of its IT and communications infrastructure had been impacted and it has shut down as a security measure.

"At the present time, we are unfortunately unable to serve new quotes or accept future bookings," Maersk said.

The carrier also reported that all immediate vessel operations will continue as planned, making the majority of scheduled port calls, while cargo in transit will be offloaded as planned, with import cargo being released to credit customers. Although access to most ports is not impacted, some APM Terminals (APMT) are affected in the US, India, Spain and the Netherlands.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey issued a notice saying that APMT Elizabeth is working to resolve the attack, which has impacted telephone lines and email channels. APMT Elizabeth continues to work vessels, but gate operations are closed. It is unclear whether the terminal's gate operations will be opened tomorrow.

Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), Maersk Line's partner in the 2M Alliance vessel sharing agreement on major east-west trades, issued a notice saying its systems and business operations are working normally and bookings can be placed as usual.

MSC said it is working with Maersk "to find other means to transmit data between the two companies," including vessel bayplans, load lists and customs information.

"If necessary, the 2M partners are prepared to divert ships away from terminals which are not currently operating as a result of the attack," MSC added. "MSC operates 53 terminals around the world, which are fully available to 2M vessels to load and unload cargo with minimal delay."

Meanwhile, online booking platform, INTTRA said in a statement that its systems are unaffected and running as normal.

"INTTRA continues to accept and process Maersk booking requests in the usual manner and Maersk confirmations will be sent when Maersk IT systems restore normal operations. All track and trace functionality for Maersk bookings through the INTTRA Portal will be unavailable until Maersk IT systems restore normal operations."

Netherlands-based shipping company TNT Express, now a subsidiary of FedEx, also said it was experiencing system interference following a global cyber attack, however, it did not specify whether or not it was related to the Petya attack.

"Like many other companies and institutions around the world, we are experiencing interference with some of our systems within the TNT network," the company said. "We are assessing the situation and are implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible."