On 2 September 2026, Konstantin Pohsin joined the „Connected To Perform“ Seminar at SMM Hamburg, hosted by Inmarsat Maritime and HANSA – International Maritime Journal. He took part in an expert panel alongside representatives from Hapag-Lloyd, Anglo-Eastern, and Inmarsat Maritime, with the session moderated by Jannik Westerkamp of HANSA.
The opening keynote by Patrick Briest of Hapag-Lloyd set a clear frame for the conversation: increased connectivity brings increased responsibility. Maritime cyber attacks have risen fivefold over the past five years. Hapag-Lloyd alone carries out 100 to 200 vulnerability patches every week. But Briest also made a point that resonated beyond the numbers: before moving to the next digital solution, the foundations need to be right — the right data, the right processes, and a clear answer to what problem a given investment is actually supposed to solve.
The panel discussion took that thought further. More connectivity is not the same as more resilience. The more systems are connected, the greater the dependencies — and the larger the potential attack surface. IT meets OT. New software meets existing infrastructure. Ships meet shore organisations. And in a critical situation, the question of which communication and which data can actually be trusted becomes an entirely different kind of problem.
With hybrid threats and defence readiness now part of the conversation, the panel addressed a question that goes well beyond individual companies: how capable of action does an organisation remain when communications, satellite connections, or individual systems are disrupted? Ports, merchant shipping, and maritime logistics are part of critical infrastructure — and therefore part of our broader societal resilience.
The human dimension ran through the whole discussion. Digitalisation must not come at the cost of experience and independent thinking. When systems or communications fail, people need to remain capable of acting. Konstantin put it simply: „Still think with your own Brain!“ That principle is not a sceptical position on technology — it is the condition under which technology can actually add value.
The panel aligned on a question that is more useful than „how digital can a fleet become“: how digital should a fleet become in order to perform better, without becoming more vulnerable or losing the human judgement that still matters most when things go wrong.
