The international association of marine equipment manufacturers (Comité International Radio-Maritime (CIRM)) held their 90th anniversary conference in San Sebastian on 24-27 April 2018. Many highly topical issues such as emerging e-navigation solutions, the future of maritime satellite communications, autonomous ships, and the increasing risk of cyber-attacks, were discussed during the three-day programme.

The discussions around cyber risks were particularly eye opening. A live demo showed how simple it is to hack into a mobile phone’s Wi-Fi connection. Seafarers who may be visiting cafés or other locations with unsecured Wi-Fi connections during port visits could be easy targets for such attacks.

In the session on the broader marine industry outlook IUMI was invited to provide an update on the marine insurance market.