News / Nagoya port reopens following crippling cyber attack

Nabeta Pier in Nagoya Port – credit Port of Nagoya

Operations at Japan’s busiest port Nagoya resumed this afternoon, local time, after an outage of more than 48 hours, following an alleged Russian ransomware attack. 

The Nagoya Harbor Transportation Association said that Nagoya United Terminal System, which operates the port’s five container terminals, had its operations restored at 7.30am today, but the full recovery of data lost in the cyber attack was achieved only in the afternoon. 

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, and a major user of the port, said the cyber attack did not affect its car exports and production.

The association said its systems were attacked at 6.30am local time on Tuesday.

The loading of containers onto trucks, as well as vessel loading and unloading, were suspended, disrupting supply chains for companies.

Nagoya is an industrial hub and its port’s key cargoes are car parts and industrial machinery.

Annually, Nagoya handles approximately 200m tonnes of cargo, the highest among all Japanese ports. Last year, Nagoya’s container throughput came up to 2.68m teu.

Nagoya Harbor Transportation Association said it has made a police report about the incident, which it believes to be a cyber attack.

The association noted that some containers that were unloaded prior to the cyberattack could not be moved onto trailers during the outage, which had caused long queues to form near the port.

While container ships calling at Nagoya mainly carry vehicle parts, they also transport foodstuffs, sparking concerns.

Cybersecurity specialist InfosecPartners said that with ship infrastructure and port activity now increasingly connected and reliant on operational technology, the risk of cyber attacks is heightened.

Rightship’s statistics show that in 2022, half of maritime cyberattacks happened in ports and terminals. In January, Portugal’s Lisbon port’s operations were affected after a ransomware attack and in June 2017, 17 container terminals run by APM Terminals were hacked.

Nagoya Harbor Transportation Association said at the time: “All parties concerned are currently working together to restore the situation. We’re doing our best, and strove to have the system ready by 6pm on 5 July.”

The association, which comprises transport companies using Nagoya port, continued: “Please understand that the start of work may be delayed depending on the status of system recovery.”

UPDATED JULY 6 AS PORT RESUMED OPERATIONS