Compared to recent months, geopolitics did not muscle into many Splash headlines this week, the final days of the tit-for-tat port fees levied by the US and China, which are set to come to an end on Monday.

The most shocking news came from the Horn of Africa, where emboldened Somali pirates, deploying skiffs and a stolen Iranian dhow, went far out to sea and targeted vessels, including boarding a first merchant ship of the year, the Malta-flagged Hellas Aphrodite product tanker. 

Shipping’s long covid was exposed this week with depressing new research showing shore leave has yet to recover from the pandemic, with most crew spending little or no time ashore. And when it comes to crews, this week’s standout Contribution came from Steven Jones, the founder of the Seafarers Happiness Index, on the tech above all generation and the urgent need to rebuild seamanship and trust at sea. “We need to rebuild the professional trust and respect that makes crews function as cohesive units rather than collections of individuals monitoring screens,” Jones wrote.

This week’s big Maritime CEO interview was with SpecTec chief executive Adam Dennett, who told us: “A lot of organisations strive to be the best rather than striving to create widespread industry best practice. At SpecTec, we fundamentally believe the pie is big enough to share.”

With news this week of a survey flagging one in four maritime suppliers for cyber risks, this week’s edition of the Splash Wrap podcast – carried below – looks at shipping’s questionable cyber resilience.