LNG Carrier Vivit Africa Diverts to Spain After Suspected Cyberattack

Sometime in early September, the crew of the LNG carrier Vivit Africa lost access to the cargo parameter monitoring systems. H-Line Shipping of South Korea owns the ship; Vitol Group holds the time charter. Before the failure, the ship had loaded US liquefied natural gas at Louisiana's Cameron LNG terminal and was bound for Rovigo, Italy.

The crew reported the malfunction to Korean Register, the ship's technical adviser. Chioggia Coast Guard crews came aboard and issued an urgent notice to mariners in the area. Kongsberg Maritime, which supplied the affected systems, confirmed it was aware of the incident but said it was "too early to draw conclusions regarding the cause or any potential security implications."

Cargo monitoring stayed offline. The master changed course. By 17 September the ship was heading west for Algeciras, near the Strait of Gibraltar, instead of continuing northeast into the Adriatic.

US authorities had been flagging similar concerns already. In late August, Coast Guard and FBI teams boarded two tankers after their crews raised cyberattack concerns. American officials said at the time they were tracking roughly 20 ships globally for signs of similar intrusions. No group has been linked to any of the incidents.

September has brought a run of tanker emergencies across the same waters. Earlier that week, the crude tanker El Gaia caught fire and exploded near the Strait of Hormuz, leaving one of its Indian crew members missing. Before that, a projectile struck the Hercules Star off Dubai, killing one seafarer. Both incidents played out as naval hostilities around Hormuz intensified.

The cause of the Vivit Africa failure is still unconfirmed. No group has claimed responsibility.