Effective maritime security: conceptual model and empirical evidence

In recent years, the issue of maritime security has become a major concern on the international maritime agenda. One of the issues in this respect is how to enhance security while not jeopardizing organizational efficiency and effectiveness, or to manage security effectively, e.g. facilitating the smooth flows of materials while enhancing supply chain security at the same time. In addressing this issue, we place three cornerstones for the effective management of security in maritime transport: quality management (QM), risk management (RM) and business continuity management (BCM). A conceptual model of effective maritime security, including 13 dimensions and 24 associated critical success factors, is devised following this reasoning. The model was tested through a survey of 119 maritime transport organizations and 25 interviews conducted in Vietnam. Findings support that all proposed 24 factors are valid and should be used as critical factors for success in effectively managing security in maritime transport, in that those involving security incident handling and response are rated as the most important in magnitude, along with security risk assessment, risk-based security mitigation strategies and plans, and senior management commitment and leadership. Managers can use the model designed and tested in this research to develop a checklist of essential components for their company's security management policies, strategies and plans. The use of a universal checklist to evaluate maritime security management would also greatly facilitate benchmarking across organizations in the industry.     

Risk assessment framework for exposure of cargo and ports to natural hazards and climate extremes

There is an increase in risks and catastrophic losses in maritime transport including ports and cargo. Significant losses have been associated with large scale natural hazards, such as earthquakes, tsunami, cyclones, and other extreme weather events. This paper identifies the main gaps in understanding maritime risks in transportation research. The gaps are attributed to insufficient empirical work available from the maritime transport and logistics research community to guide multi-risk and natural hazards impact assessment on seaport and cargo. In addition, disaster studies communities have barely made adequate efforts to understand and assess port and cargo risks arising from multi-hazards and disaster events. This paper examines existing conceptual frameworks concerning exposure and risk assessments of natural catastrophe’s impacts. Furthermore, the paper identifies trends and gaps in risk assessment frameworks in the field of disaster studies that can be beneficial for maritime risk research. The authors propose a new risk assessment framework that can guide future research and multi-hazard risk assessment processes at different scales of maritime risks.     

Maritime safety and the ISM code: a study of investigated casualties and incidents

In 1993, the International Maritime Organization adopted the International Safety Management (ISM) Code which requires all shipping companies operating certain types of vessels to establish safety management systems. Nevertheless, two decades later, maritime safety remains a concern. This article studies 94 maritime cases investigated by the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch in the UK. By providing an analysis of reported casualties and incidents, it highlights current challenges in maritime safety. For each casualty and incident, the study reviews the underlying causal factors. These causal factors are then coded according to the functional sections of the ISM Code, covering various aspects of safety management. To investigate human and organizational factors involved in the casualties and incidents, the human factor analysis and classification system (HFACS) is applied to code the same data. Finally, the relative seriousness of casualties and incidents is considered to discuss the findings from ISM Code and HFACS reviews. The study found that the main challenges pertain to the development of plans for shipboard operations, local shipboard management, and the ability of the company to verify when such practices deviate from best practices or required standards.     

Undeclared dangerous goods — Risk implications for maritime transport

Dangerous goods that have not been correctly declared when offered for transport have contributed to some serious accidents at sea. Safe handling, stowage, and segregation of packaged dangerous goods cannot be carried out if there is no knowledge of the presence of dangerous goods inside the cargo transport unit (container and/or trailer), or if the goods have been incorrectly declared. Although undeclared dangerous goods are recognized as a safety issue in the shipping industry, there is little information available on the extent of the risk involved. The study described in this paper was carried out to investigate the extent and potential consequences of the maritime transport of undeclared dangerous goods. Dangerous goods incident and inspection reports and ship casualty data were reviewed and analysed. A generic qualitative model was constructed to illustrate contributing factors and potential consequences in incidents involving undeclared dangerous goods.     

Maritime logistics as an emerging discipline

The evolution of maritime logistics as an emerging discipline has resulted, to a large extent, from the increasing and varied demands of shippers and customers and the rapidly changing role of ports in the context of supply and logistics chains. Scholars are becoming increasingly aware of the need to integrate logistics and supply chain management concepts in the maritime transportation chain and operations. This article aims to provide a review and foundation for understanding the domain of maritime logistics and to assess its potential as an emerging discipline. To do so, a framework for understanding the various aspects of maritime logistics strategy and implementation is developed. A synthesis of the existing knowledge on maritime logistics is done by integrating diverse explorations forming the basis of this framework. We draw upon the literature on maritime transport and ports and primarily theliterature that analyses concepts by adopting an economic or management perspective.     

A three-dimensional risk management model of port logistics for hazardous goods

ABSTRACT

Ports are the distribution centers of hazardous goods in the global transportation system. Once hazardous goods accidents occur in ports, they may cause catastrophic losses to humans and the environment. This research investigates the port logistics risks of hazardous goods and provides an overview of port logistics regarding hazardous goods risks. With this investigation, we conducted a detailed analysis of the underlying causes of the port logistics accidents related to hazardous goods. To manage these risks, this article proposes a three-dimensional risk management model that includes human, governance and goods and provides a risk level identification framework for port hazardous goods logistics. Applying the three-dimensional risk management model, we use the Tianjin port explosion as a case study. Finally, we provide several potential preventative measures to prevent such accidents. The findings of this article contribute to the implementation and monitoring of port strategies that will allow for more sustainable and secure development.     

破解难题 完善机制 做好我国海洋污染应急处置工作

文中重点就目前海洋污染事故存在的风险、交通运输部门针对船舶污染应急体系建设所做的工作、当前海洋污染事故应急瓜机制存在的问题以及对如何完善海洋污染事故应急反应机制等作思索和探讨。     

山体滑坡海事风险的三维测度方法

为了更科学地评判山体滑坡灾害导致的海事风险并且科学实施水上交通管制决策,研究山体滑坡海事风险的三维测度方法。以大中规模剧动式滑坡涌浪为研究对象,根据山体滑坡海事风险的形成过程研究其海事风险的三维测度方法,提出了以山体滑坡变形破坏阶段、滑坡涌浪规模、涌浪损毁船舶的系统风险综合系数为测度指标的海事风险评判模型,并通过实例说明该方法及风险评判模型的应用。研究结论表明:该海事风险测度方法及评判模型,考虑了山体滑坡险情水上交通管制的主要因素,全面地反映了山体滑坡灾害导致的海事风险特征。     

Introduction to the special issue on maritime security

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 heightened awareness about the vulnerability of all modes of transportation to terrorist attack. The issue of maritime security has therefore become a major concern in the international maritime sector over the past several years. Globalization has led to a strong growth in seaborne trade; however, it simultaneously increases vulnerability to not only terrorism but also international criminal activities that threaten the world's supply chain. For example, in 2008, the rise in piracy activities in the Gulf of Aden brought the issue of maritime security to the forefront of international debate. In addition to the direct impact on ships, crews and cargoes, and on the maritime industry and governments, piracy also threatens global seaborne trade, and has an impact on energy security and the environment [UNCTAD, 2009, Review of Maritime Transport 2009 (New York: United Nations)]. Maritime piracy can pose substantial risks to seaborne trades, with considerable commodities, ranging between raw materials and energy to high-value manufactured products, being shipped between global economic powerhouses [FU, X. W., NG, A. K. Y., LAU, Y. Y., forthcoming, The impacts of maritime piracy on global economic development: The case of Somalia. Maritime Policy and Management]. Maritime security management, including the definition of security, maritime risk assessment, security measures, the regulation and policy of maritime security in shipping and port-related business operations has been receiving growing attention, both in practice and research.     

An advanced risk analysis approach for container port safety evaluation

Risk analysis in seaports plays an increasingly important role in ensuring port operation reliability, maritime transportation safety and supply chain distribution resilience. However, the task is not straightforward given the challenges, including that port safety is affected by multiple factors related to design, installation, operation and maintenance and that traditional risk assessment methods such as quantitative risk analysis cannot sufficiently address uncertainty in failure data. This paper develops an advanced Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) approach through incorporating Fuzzy Rule-Based Bayesian Networks (FRBN) to evaluate the criticality of the hazardous events (HEs) in a container terminal. The rational use of the Degrees of Belief (DoB) in a fuzzy rule base (FRB) facilitates the implementation of the new method in Container Terminal Risk Evaluation (CTRE) in practice. Compared to conventional FMEA methods, the new approach integrates FRB and BN in a complementary manner, in which the former provides a realistic and flexible way to describe input failure information while the latter allows easy updating of risk estimation results and facilitates real-time safety evaluation and dynamic risk-based decision support in container terminals. The proposed approach can also be tailored for wider application in other engineering and management systems, especially when instant risk ranking is required by the stakeholders to measure, predict and improve their system safety and reliability performance.     

提高海上突发事件应对能力的思考

文中通过分析海上突发事件特点以及应对处置中存在的突出问题，结合当前国内国际的一些做法，提出提高我国海上突发事件应对能力的一些设想和对策，以保障海上人命财产安全，保护海洋环境的清洁，促进经济社会的发展。     

Simulation-based severe weather-induced container terminal economic loss estimation

Container terminals play a critical role in maritime supply chains. However, they show vulnerabilities to severe weather events due to the sea–land interface locations. Previous severe weather risk analysis focused more on larger assessment units, such as regions and cities. Limited studies assessed severe weather risks on a smaller scale of seaports. This paper aims to propose a severe weather-induced container terminal loss estimation framework. Based on a container terminal operation simulation model, monthly average loss and single event-induced loss are obtained by using historical hazard records and terminal operation records as model inputs. By studying the Port of Shenzhen as the case study, we find that the fog events in March lead to the longest monthly port downtime and the highest monthly severe weather-induced economic losses in the studied port. The monthly average loss is estimated to be 30 million USD, accounting for 20% of the intact income. The worst-case scenario is found to be a red-signal typhoon attack which results in nearly 20% decrease in the month’s income. The results provide useful references for various container terminal stakeholders in severe weather risk management.     

Practical experiences on incident reporting in maritime pilotage in Finland

Incidents and near misses are generally reported poorly in the shipping industry. Several researches have been conducted in order to find out the underlying reasons for poor reporting, and to provide methods for increasing the reporting activity. Nevertheless, major changes in reporting activity are not yet visible. An interview study was conducted among Finnish pilots in order to find out how active pilots are in their incident reporting and what issues affect their reporting activity. The interview study revealed that the pilots’ activeness in reporting incidents varies notably, which is rather uncommon in the maritime sector. The variability is manifested in the reporting activity and in the evaluation of occurrences that are to be reported as incidents. According to the interviewed pilots, the main reasons behind the varying reporting activity were that the pilots found it difficult to evaluate the occurrences that should be reported, they did not get feedback from their reports, and the reporting system did not always have a correct option for the incident the pilots wanted to report. In addition, the personal attitudes and characteristics of the pilots affected their reporting activity to some extent. Contrary to previous studies, blame culture was not considered to be a contributing factor. One reason for the varying reporting activity might also be that the maritime personnel have not perceived the significance of incident reporting and thus do not understand the positive consequences of reporting incidents. If the idea of incident reporting and continuous improvement is fully comprehended, defining what issues should be reported would not be hard.     

上海港船舶污染风险分析及防范应对措施

文中对最近13年间在上海港发生的船舶污染事故进行归类分析,指出上海港可能发生船舶污染事故的主要风险源,并针对这些船舶污染风险源,提出防范和应对措施,以期防止上海港船舶污染事故的发生。     

Risk analysis of maritime accidents along the main route of the Maritime Silk Road: a Bayesian network approach

ABSTRACT

The safety of maritime transportation along the twenty-first century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) is important to ensure its development and sustainability. Maritime transportation poses risks of accidents that can cause the death or injury of crew members and damage to ships and the environment. This paper proposes a Bayesian network (BN) based risk analysis approach that is newly applied in the main route of the MSR to analyse its relevant maritime accidents. The risk data are manually collected from the reports of the accident that occurred along the MSR. Next, the risk factors are identified and the results from the modelling method can provide useful insights for accident prevention. Historical data collected from accident reports are used to estimate the prior probabilities of the identified risk factors influencing the occurrence of maritime accidents. The results show that the main influencing factors are the type and location of an accident and the type, speed, and age of the involved ship(s). In addition, scenario analysis is conducted to analyse the risks of different ships in various navigational environments. The findings can be used to analyse the probability of each possible maritime accident along MSR and to provide useful insights for shipowners’ accident prevention.     

Evaluation of political risk in a shipping project

Shipping projects, as land-based ones, are evaluated by using different measures of merit based on discounted cash flows. The bulk carrying industry, where costs are known better than revenues, adopted the required freight rate (RFR) and its derivative the economic cost of transport (ECT) as its major measures of merit. Shipping is a business exposed to many unforeseen risks. Although many of these risks are beyond the control of the shipowners/operators, they should all be carefully weighed during the process of project selection designed for investment decisions. One such risk is the expropriation of shore-based facilities built by the shipping operator at one or more termini of the maritime distribution channel. The operator has to assess the value and probability of risk and translate them into a premium which he will levy on each unit of goods transported. Adding this premium to the required freight rate together with the inventory holding costs and marine insurance charges will produce the real economic cost of transport.     

Themes and tools of maritime transport research during 2000-2014

This study examines how maritime transport has been researched through a comprehensive review of papers published in 19 transportation journals over the period 2000–2014. Systematic investigation shows that Maritime Policy & Management plays a prominent role in publishing maritime transport research. At the same time, ‘shipping’ is a dominant research area, with ‘port management, service, performance, efficiency and competitiveness’; ‘shipping market, industry, freight rate and economic impact’; and ‘terminal studies’ as the most popular topics. Nevertheless, few efforts have investigated ‘shipping finance’; ‘shipping service’; or ‘port risk and security.’ Since 2000, the use of quantitative analysis techniques has steadily increased in maritime transport to help participants make decisions scientifically. We here present the major data analysis techniques and highlight some limitations regarding their application. Thus, we provide a better understanding of how maritime transport research has been undertaken in a quantitative manner.     

Maritime policy in Scotland

This paper begins by defining the meaning of the term ‘maritime policy’. Since devolution in the UK, the opening of the new Scottish parliament in 1998 and the creation of the Scottish Executive, little effort has been made to establish a distinct maritime policy for Scotland. As was evident prior to devolution, the primary emphasis from any maritime policy perspective has continued to be a focus on lifeline island ferry services. This ignores significant developments in several other key maritime transport sectors, and this paper provides examples of areas that require some form of policy response, including intra-European short sea shipping, UK coastal shipping, urban/river transport and global container shipping. Long-standing institutional bias against maritime transport coupled with subsidy devoted almost entirely to land transport systems has resulted in a quite distorted marketplace. This suggests that a maritime policy is now imperative if maritime transport is to play a more significant role in the overall transport system. Further discussion centres on the need to consider, from a Scottish policy perspective, the role of various state-sponsored maritime service providers and how these bodies might fit better within evolving policy. The conclusion is that formulation of a maritime policy by the Scottish Executive is overdue and that a degree of restructuring of transport responsibilities within the Executive, combined with adequate resource allocation towards the maritime industry, will be necessary in order that market distortions can be overcome, so enabling Scotland to fully exploit the competitive and environmental advantages that maritime transport can provide.     

Maritime policy in Scotland

This paper begins by defining the meaning of the term 'maritime policy'. Since devolution in the UK, the opening of the new Scottish parliament in 1998 and the creation of the Scottish Executive, little effort has been made to establish a distinct maritime policy for Scotland. As was evident prior to devolution, the primary emphasis from any maritime policy perspective has continued to be a focus on lifeline island ferry services. This ignores significant developments in several other key maritime transport sectors, and this paper provides examples of areas that require some form of policy response, including intra-European short sea shipping, UK coastal shipping, urban/river transport and global container shipping. Long-standing institutional bias against maritime transport coupled with subsidy devoted almost entirely to land transport systems has resulted in a quite distorted marketplace. This suggests that a maritime policy is now imperative if maritime transport is to play a more significant role in the overall transport system. Further discussion centres on the need to consider, from a Scottish policy perspective, the role of various state-sponsored maritime service providers and how these bodies might fit better within evolving policy. The conclusion is that formulation of a maritime policy by the Scottish Executive is overdue and that a degree of restructuring of transport responsibilities within the Executive, combined with adequate resource allocation towards the maritime industry, will be necessary in order that market distortions can be overcome, so enabling Scotland to fully exploit the competitive and environmental advantages that maritime transport can provide.     

Impact of the container security initiative on Taiwan's shipping industry

This paper evaluates the impact of risk factors from the container security initiative on Taiwan's shipping industry by employing a risk management matrix to identify the severity and frequency of CSI risk factors, and discovers some appropriate risk management alternatives. This paper's findings are as follows: (1) The majority of risk factors have a moderate-risk level, and possible alternative risk management measures include risk prevention, self-retention and insurance. (2) Ensuring a balance between the efficiency of maritime logistics and supply chain security is of vital importance to any trading countries dealing with security risk issues. (3) The government should encourage the private sector to design and market security hardware and software, which will promote the growth of the domestic security industry and generate employment opportunities.