DP World Australia has resumed operations at its container terminals after a “cyber incident” on Friday 10 November. 

A statement from the company, which manages ports in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, said that operations had resumed at 9am on 13 November following tests of key systems and it expected 5,000 containers to be moving out of the terminals over the day. 

However, DP World added: “The ongoing investigation and response to protect networks and systems may cause some necessary, temporary disruptions to their services in the coming days. 

“This is a part of an investigation process and resuming normal logistical operations at this scale.” 

The incident had halted the transport of containers in and out of the ports, which manage 40% of the country’s imported and exported goods, over the weekend and had led the company to disconnect its sites from the internet while addressing the issue, which has yet to be connected to a perpetrator. 

DP World said it had been working with the Australian Government on getting operations back online and thanked the country’s cyber security centre and the home affairs and infrastructure ministers for their support. 

National Cyber Security Coordinator Darren Goldie said that investigations will continue and remediation work is likely to be ongoing for some time: “Although port operations have resumed, it does not mean that this incident has concluded. 

“The Australian Government is continuing to work with DP World Australia to support the management of any further consequences, including any ongoing disruption to Australia’s supply chains.” 

The DP World incident follows another cyber attack at a major port earlier this year when Japan’s Port of Nagoya was shut down for multiple days after a ransomware attack, showing the vulnerability of the maritime industry to these kinds of incidents.