Cyber-attack impact on APM terminals limited

Manama  : The IT systems at APM Terminals were impacted following the recent global cyber-attack, said the APM Terminals Bahrain Chief Operating Officer (COO) Arno Storm, the operator of Khalifa bin Salman Port (KBSP) yesterday.

The impact of this incident on operations at the Khalifa bin Salman Port has been limited to container side of the operations. However, general cargo operations including vehicle imports and marine services continued to operate normally.

 “Our immediate priority was to activate our business continuity plan as part of which an immediate task force was put in place to ensure we continue to provide service to our customers, including keeping the trade and our important stake holders informed,” said Arno Storm while interacting with the media.

“Over the past few days, we at APM Terminals Bahrain have been coordinating with our global headquarters and working in tandem with Port & Maritime Affairs (PMA), Customs authorities and other stakeholders to ensure operational continuity. We are pleased to confirm that we have made very good progress in a short period of time with the great support of our teams who rose to the occasion as evident from the data. We can confirm that the port is operating close to normal now. We have extended the gate timings till 12 midnight with the support from Customs and the PMA to enable importers to clear the shipments in the port. We have also resumed acceptance of Export shipments.  During the whole period ALBA exports and Vessel operations continued without any interruptions.” 

“Once we have fully recovered, we will evaluate the issue in detail in close coordination with our various stake holders to capture the learnings, ” he said. 

Ports and Maritime Affairs Undersecretary at the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, Hassan Ali Al-Majid was also present. 

KBSP which opened for business on April 1, 2009 is well positioned to be the premier transhipment hub for the Northern Gulf.