The full spectrum of the impact that contemporary technology pertains to remote control and automation on the management of ships that are equipped with such technology is unknown for the moment. However, the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), the world’s largest membership organisation for shipowners, is developing a standard contract, AUTOSHIPMAN, which establishes the ground rules for allocation of tasks that concern the management of remotely controlled and autonomous ships. This standard contract contains both a cyber security clause and a force majeure clause. Cyber security being a modern concept, its implementation may be evaluated in the light of force majeure, so as to test whether they interplay. This research applies a ‘three-pillar test’ to examine whether it is possible for cyber incidents to fall into the scope of force majeure and aims to provide a well-rounded interpretation of the relevant provisions of this new standard contract before its full implementation.