The lack of understanding and awareness of cyber crime is seen as the greatest challenge facing the maritime and logistics industry when it comes to mitigating cyber risks and preventing cyber attacks, said Mr Alvin Chan, Global Head of Marine at Generali Global Corporate & Commercial (GC&C) , based in Hong Kong.
Not only is the maritime and logistics industry’s cyber exposure increasing due to the increasing reliance on IT, un-controlled shared access to backend systems among shipping companies and local agents is also a “common phenomenon”.
“Different entities’ systems containing possession information on cargo and hull movements such as ports, custom offices, logistic companies and banks are all linked up; cyber criminals need only to penetrate one of two of these entities’ systems to extract all the information they need,” he said, and added that this information leak puts vessels, cargoes and crew at “great risks of attack, theft and hijacking”.
Muted outlook for short to medium term
Turning to assess the regional marine insurance market, Mr Chan noted that the biggest drivers of change in today’s landscape of a persistent soft market and depressed rates could be attributed to “sluggish trade” and abundant marine capacity in Asia that is “still on the rise, particularly in the Singapore market”.
Given the economic forecast, the insurer expects the marine insurance industry, in particular the cargo market, to remain soft in the short to medium term. A long-term projection would “depend very much on the global economy and its impact on global trade and capacity”, he added.
“Despite the highly competitive status of the marine market, we believe Asia Pacific still offers excellent growth opportunities for marine insurers. Generali, with its global network and strong marine team is well-positioned to capture these opportunities and Asia is our targeted growth region for the marine sector in the coming three years.”
Mr Chan also emphasised that in soft markets, insurance companies should differentiate themselves by providing value-added services and innovative products rather than selling standard marine products as commodities at low prices.