Cyber Regulatory Landscape and Industry Responses in the Shipbuilding and Maritime Sector – Part 1: What We Must Do Right Now

📌 Why Cybersecurity, and Why Now?

— The Wave of Transformation Has Already Arrived**


Digitalization, automation, smart ships, and AI-driven operations are advancing at unprecedented speed.

The global shipbuilding and maritime sectors are standing at a historic turning point.
We are sailing through the most dynamic and complex era the industry has ever experienced.

And at the center of this transformation lies one undeniable truth:

Ships are becoming smarter — and simultaneously more vulnerable.

Cybersecurity is now the core mechanism
that connects and protects this growing vulnerability.

IACS UR E26 and UR E27 are no longer “new regulations.”
They are rapidly becoming the operational philosophy and shared language for every vessel that enters production.

Yet, even today, few voices clearly explain what these requirements actually mean in the field:

  • What shipyards must do differently

  • What suppliers are struggling with

  • What shipowners face in real implementation

  • How these gaps affect fleet-wide resilience

This lack of clarity is becoming a critical risk factor for the entire industry.


📌 A Decade Inside the Shipyard — What I Learned: Schedule and Specification

During more than ten years at DSME (Currently Hanwha Ocean)—
working across IT Planning, Production Innovation, Basic Design, and R&D —
I learned how ships are truly designed, built, and delivered.

Two truths became deeply embedded in me:

1) Shipbuilding schedules are absolute.

2) Specifications decided during Basic Design determine the ship’s destiny.

These same truths now shape how we must approach UR E26/E27.

Because cybersecurity, at its core, follows the same logic:

  • Schedule

  • Specification

  • Basic Design

The terminology sounds complex,
but the operational reality is straightforward and unmistakable.

📌 The Problems Everyone Faces — but Few Speak About

Based on extensive work by EY Maritime Cyber Hub (EY MCH)
across major LPGC and container-ship projects in Asia and globally,
one conclusion is clear:

The fundamental problem is not technology —

it is structure.

And these structural issues consistently appear
across nearly every project in three repeating patterns.

🔥 Problem 1. Shipyard-to-Shipyard Variability —

A Direct Consequence of Missing Owner Policy**

Even with identical ship types and specifications,
UR E26/E27 outcomes differ drastically between shipyards.

The reason is simple:

There is no unified Owner Cybersecurity Policy.

Without it, the industry sees:

  • Varying levels of readiness for annual cyber surveys

  • Confusion during incident response

  • R&R reinvented in every project

  • No standardized monitoring or response mechanism

  • A gradual decline in fleet-wide cyber resilience

This is not a shipyard problem.

It is an industry-wide structural problem.

🔥 Problem 2. Supplier Documentation Gaps —

E27 Determines the Quality of E26**

E27 supplier documentation is the primary input for UR E26 SCARP.
But in practice:

  • Supplier documentation quality varies dramatically

  • RA/RM results are inconsistent

  • Class reviews are delayed

  • Shipyards and shipowners repeatedly redo the same work

This is more than a project-level issue —
it reflects a lack of industry standardization.

🔥 Problem 3. SCARP Is Not a Document —

It Is a Cyber Resilience Operating Program**

Many stakeholders still misunderstand SCARP
as a report or a submission document.

In reality:

SCARP is the cyber resilience operating system of the ship.

A high-quality SCARP requires:

  • Harmonized supplier documentation (E27)

  • System architecture and interface analysis

  • Zone & Conduit definition

  • Unified RA/RM methodology

  • Alignment with class society requirements

These tasks must be integrated.
A fragmented approach simply cannot succeed.

📌 The Direction the Maritime Industry Must Choose —

Standardization & Central Governance**

Within the next five years,
UR E26/E27 will evolve from compliance rules
into the actual operating model of the maritime industry.

If shipyards, suppliers, and shipowners
continue working in fragmented, inconsistent ways,
the entire ecosystem will face operational instability.

The industry needs one unified structural model:

Owner Policy → CRSI → Global Standardization → Long-Term SCARP Framework

These four pillars will reshape the operational foundation
of the global maritime industry through the 2030s and 2040s.

📌 Proposed Industry-Level Solution

Based on deep field experience and analysis,
four practical solutions emerge:

  1. A unified Owner Cybersecurity Policy across shipowners

  2. Standardized E27 documentation and data frameworks

  3. Minimized execution gaps between shipyards and suppliers

  4. A long-term SCARP model linking newbuilding and operation

This is not a strategy for a single company.
It is a strategy to protect the competitiveness and ecosystem stability
of the entire shipbuilding and maritime sector.

📌 A Message to the Shipbuilding and Maritime Industry

UR E26/E27 are not “documents to be submitted.”

They are the new Operating Model for future ships.

This requires rethinking:

  • Shipyard quality standards

  • Supplier technological capability

  • Shipowner governance

  • Class society roles

  • The operational lifecycle

And this transformation cannot wait until later.

With over a decade of experience building smart ships,
managing production schedules,
and now working with global shipowners on UR E26/E27 implementation,
I can say with complete certainty:

🔥 “The structure we use today cannot protect the ships of tomorrow.”

This is the moment for the global maritime industry to move toward:

  • A more standardized structure

  • A more unified model

  • A more resilient operating foundation

Shipjobs will continue documenting
this transformation,
the realities from the field,
and the direction the industry must take next.

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