CYBERATTACKS: Shipping activities to suffer $500m loss

The recent cyberattacks on some countries around the world may also affect shipping activities at some Nigerian ports.

Shipping activities at the ports may suffer an estimated loss of over $500 miilion as major operators announced closure following an attack on their system, which was first noticed on assumption of work after the holiday.

Affected cargo clearing operators, included the APM Terminals, Apapa, Lagos, which is one of the major container terminals in the country.

Similarly, the IT system of a giant operator, A.P. Moller-Maersk, which handles one out of seven containers shipped globally is also affected.

Although the attackers reportedly spared other smaller operators, their action has led to the management of the terminals shutting down their various systems.

Clearing agents said they were not given any prior notice that the terminsls would be shut as they returned from the holiday only to be informed that there would be an indefinite closure of operations because of hacking of the operators’ networks.

The agents disclosed that more than $500 million clearing services are to be lost per week that the closure lasts.

It was learnt that the system hacking, which was first reported by the international headquarters of the major operators in Europe and America on Friday, hit their outstation operation outlets with Nigeria being worst affected.

Officials of Maersk said: “We can confirm that Maersk IT systems are down across multiple sites and business units due to a cyber attack.”

The breakdown affected all business units of Maersk, including container shipping, port and tug boat operations, oil and gas production, drilling services and oil tankers, the company said.

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“Without clearance from our headquarters, we cannot open full work, but those whose goods have left our IT-clearing portal will not be affected by the closure,” said a senior operation manager, on condition of anonymity.

He however confirmed that the hackers were out to ground shipping activities globally, meaning that Nigeria is not solely targeted, but being a hub of shipping business in West Africa it’ll suffer more than other countries.

At the APM Terminals, officials said that they have been working hard not to allow the shutting down of the system to reduce the cost of longer shutting down the system.

However, managements of all the affected terminals were said to have told major clearing companies, on inquiry over the situation at the ports, that the opportunity offered by the shut down would be used to effect total maintenance of the systems of the operators’ equipments as to have a better service when operation commences.

But the affected importers by the development said they would be billed for charges and other delayed costs of delivery by the ship owners and government agencies, even by the terminal operators when the chips are down.

Mr. Dick Olumah, CEO, Cultex Aluminum, who said his firm was one of the companies whose consignment were entrapped at the port over the development added that the longer delay in resuming operation at the ports would be against the importers.

“We are appealing to the government to intervene in the crisis to save us from bearing the cost of the hackers,” he said.