Wired for success? The double-edged sword of ship connectivity

Lloyd’s List senior reporter Joshua Minchin explains how shipping has crossed the proverbial Rubicon when it comes to connectivity and asks how it needs to adapt to stay secure in the age of ultrafast onboard internet.

LOW Earth orbit connectivity doesn’t occupy the same number of column inches as say Houthi terror in the Red Sea, or the climate regulatory tussles at the IMO, but it has arguably changed shipping just as much, if not more.

Vessels that have long relied on dependable, but relatively slow internet connectivity now have access to the kind of upload and download speeds used to create this very podcast, thanks in no small part to Elon Musk’s Starlink system, which uses its own constellation of satellites.

There’s no doubt this has opened endless doors for both shipowners and seafarers. Data collection and analysis is possible on a scale unimaginable at sea just a decade ago. Crew can now video-call family or stream live sports despite being hundreds of miles from land.

But, in a microcosm of society as a whole, this advent of instant connectivity brings with it negatives too, potentially opening the door to would-be hackers who are starting to see shipping as a rich target.

Joining Joshua on this week’s podcast are:

• Daniel Ng, chief executive, CyberOwl
• Tore Morten Olsen, president of maritime, Marlink
• Ben Palmer, president, Inmarsat Maritime

This podcast was published on 26.08.25 on Lloyd's List.