Photo/Illutration A container terminal at Nagoya Port in Tobishima village in Aichi Prefecture (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

NAGOYA--Ransomware infected a system that manages operations at Nagoya Port, including moving containers at container terminals, the Nagoya Harbor Transportation Association announced on July 5.

The association said that moving containers at the port had been suspended since July 4 as a result.

Nagoya Port handles approximately 200 million tons of cargo a year, the largest among all ports in Japan.

The association believes the incident is a cyberattack and has been in contact with the Aichi prefectural police.

It has been working to restore the system to normal by 6 p.m. on July 5.

The hope is to be able to move containers at the port again starting at 8:30 a.m. on July 6.

The association, which is made up of transport companies using the port, operates the system that was infected with ransomware.

The system failure occurred at around 6:30 a.m. on July 4, according to the association.

If all the spaces to store containers at the port are occupied because of the system failure, fewer container ships might be allowed into the port.

Some of the containers the port had accepted before the system failure have been unloaded at the port, the association said.

But those containers cannot be moved out of the port on trailers at the moment, resulting in long lines of trailers near the port, the association said.

Container ships that use the port carry goods that are mainly car-related but also include household appliances and foods.

If restoring the system to normal takes longer than expected, transporting such goods might be severely impacted.

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