Working with CyberOwl, a European tanker operator has turned cyber risk management into a lever for better insurance terms. The case shows how shipowners can use evidence, not negotiation, to influence commercial outcomes.
Cyber risk management is increasingly shaping commercial outcomes in shipping, and for one tanker operator managing a fleet of 12 vessels, its partnership with CyberOwl, a DNV company, has moved cyber security beyond compliance and into the balance sheet.
The operator has reduced its annual cyber insurance premiums by $2,700 per ship. Across the fleet, this amounts to savings of US$32,400 a year. It has also removed a US$10,000 deductible on cyber incidents and increased its overall cover by US$5 million. These improvements were achieved by proving that cyber risks were under control, rather than by renegotiating policy terms.
Working with CyberOwl, the operator put in place specialist vessel cyber security monitoring and response support. This allowed onboard networks to be monitored for cyber threats, while creating a provable compliance trail aligned with the company’s safety management system. Evidence could be uploaded directly for insurance review, giving underwriters visibility into risk conditions over time rather than snapshots taken at audit.
Using CyberOwl’s Medulla platform, the operator demonstrated verifiable vessel cyber hygiene embedded within its safety management system, aligning with IMO 2021 cyber risk management requirements and giving insurers clear visibility of fleet-wide cyber conditions. With no critical cyber incidents recorded over the past two years, the investment in onboard cyber risk monitoring translated into tangible financial benefits: after reviewing the data, a top three marine insurance broker applied a $2,700 premium reduction per vessel, citing zero claims and reduced cyber exposure.
The shift reflects a wider change in how insurers assess cyber risk. Cyber security onboard ships has long been treated as a box-ticking exercise. Insurers are now starting to score fleets on cyber maturity, creating a path for operators who can demonstrate disciplined risk control to qualify for lower premiums.
For this operator, the premium reduction was only part of the benefit. The insurance broker also confirmed that a formal cyber compliance certification issued by CyberOwl would make the fleet eligible for removal of the US$10,000 excess on cyber incidents. In practical terms, this reduces financial exposure if a serious incident were to occur.
For shipowners and managers, when cyber maturity can be evidenced, compliance begins to translate into commercial value.
Russell Kempley, CyberOwl’s Chief Proposition Officer says, “The insurance market is beginning to differentiate between operators who say they manage cyber risk and those who can prove it. What we’re seeing now is that evidence of continuous monitoring and a clean compliance record translates directly into better terms at renewal. This case shows that the commercial case for vessel cyber security has moved well beyond regulatory obligation.”
Tags: Tanker
