U.S. Maritime Transportation and Port Security

Author(s):  
Ashley Craig ◽  
John Seher
Author(s):  
Arthur P. James ◽  
H.G. Van Dell

The terrorist acts that destroyed the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon have, of course, changed much of the world in many ways since September 2001. Among those effects has been a pronounced and noticeable shift in airport and aircraft security. Much less noticeable to most Americans has been the impact of added security and changed priorities on maritime transportation systems. But maritime security actually has a far greater impact on commerce than does air security because most cargo moves worldwide via commercial ocean-going vessels. Security requirements and wartime priorities are compelling the worlds governments to more closely monitor and inspect all vessels and cargo entering their nations ports. The US Coast Guards inspections are forcing tremendous delays upon entering vessels. The consequences of losing millions of dollars daily both for shipping companies and cargo interests create severe economic and logistical problems that impact all transportation modes. The new US embargo on 24 small countries may force them into bankruptcy unless they comply with US requests to end terrorism. These countries depend on exports and imports for a large portion of their GDP, which will be dramatically reduced unless they join the war against terrorism. This paper examines five impacts on the US and world shipping industry caused by the war on terrorism--those on: 1) vessel and port security; 2) transportation- and trade-related communications; 3) trade levels; 4) marine insurance; and 5) maritime and related freight rates. Then the authors draw some conclusions regarding possibilities of reflagging of ships and effects on the status of the US merchant marine industry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 703
Author(s):  
Megan Drewniak ◽  
Dimitrios Dalaklis ◽  
Anastasia Christodoulou ◽  
Rebecca Sheehan

In recent years, a continuous decline of ice-coverage in the Arctic has been recorded, but these high latitudes are still dominated by earth’s polar ice cap. Therefore, safe and sustainable shipping operations in this still frozen region have as a precondition the availability of ice-breaking support. The analysis in hand provides an assessment of the United States’ and Canada’s polar ice-breaking program with the purpose of examining to what extent these countries’ relevant resources are able to meet the facilitated growth of industrial interests in the High North. This assessment will specifically focus on the maritime transportation sector along the Northwest Passage and consists of four main sections. The first provides a very brief description of the main Arctic passages. The second section specifically explores the current situation of the Northwest Passage, including the relevant navigational challenges, lack of infrastructure, available routes that may be used for transit, potential choke points, and current state of vessel activity along these routes. The third one examines the economic viability of the Northwest Passage compared to that of the Panama Canal; the fourth and final section is investigating the current and future capabilities of the United States’ and Canada’s ice-breaking fleet. Unfortunately, both countries were found to be lacking the necessary assets with ice-breaking capabilities and will need to accelerate their efforts in order to effectively respond to the growing needs of the Arctic. The total number of available ice-breaking assets is impacting negatively the level of support by the marine transportation system of both the United States and Canada; these two countries are facing the possibility to be unable to effectively meet the expected future needs because of the lengthy acquisition and production process required for new ice-breaking fleets.


Author(s):  
Chien-Chang Chou

Navigational safety is an important issue in maritime transportation. The most frequent type of maritime accident in the port and coastal waters is the ship collision. Although some ship collision models have been developed in the past, few have taken account of wind and sea current effects. However, wind and sea current are critical factors in ship maneuvering. Therefore, based on the previous collision model without wind and sea current effects, this study further develops a ship collision model with wind and sea current effects. Finally, a comparison of the results for the proposed collision model in this study and the ship maneuvering simulator is shown to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed mathematical model in this paper, followed by the conclusions and suggestions given to navigators, port managers, and governmental maritime departments to improve navigational safety in port and coastal waters.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1023-1032
Author(s):  
Erik Aleksander Veitch ◽  
Thomas Kaland ◽  
Ole Andreas Alsos

AbstractArtificial intelligence is transforming how we interact with vehicles. We examine the case of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS), which are emerging as a safer and more effective solution for maritime transportation. Despite the focus on autonomy, humans are predicted to have a central role in MASS operations from a Shore Control Centre (SCC). Here, operators will provide back-up control in the event of system failure. There are signification design challenges with such a system. The most critical is human-system interaction in autonomy (H-SIA). We consider humans as the source of resilience in the system for adapting to unexpected events and managing safety. We ask, can Human-Centred Design (HCD) be used to create resilient interactions between MASS and SCC? Work has been done in resilience engineering for complex systems but has not been extended to H-SIA in transportation. “Resilient interaction design” is relevant as we progress from design to operational phase. We adopted the ISO 9421-210 guideline to structure our HCD approach. The result is an SCC designed for 1 Autonomy Operator (AO). The contribution is a demonstration of how resilient interaction design may lead to safer and more effective H-SIA in transportation.


Logistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Rebecca Sheehan ◽  
Dimitrios Dalaklis ◽  
Anastasia Christodoulou ◽  
Megan Drewniak ◽  
Peter Raneri ◽  
...  

The analysis in hand provides a brief assessment of the United States’ and Canada’s marine transportation system and relevant search and rescue (SAR) support in relation to the Northwest Passage, with the purpose of examining to what extent these countries’ relevant infrastructure resources are able to meet the expected growth of shipping operations and business activities in the Arctic. Through an extensive literature review, this assessment will specifically describe the most important influences upon the maritime transportation system, with the issue of certain geographical details and the capabilities of existing ports standing out. Additionally, vessel activity trends and vessel traffic routing measure initiatives will be examined. Furthermore, the SAR infrastructure details and means to render assistance to people in distress along the Northwest Passage will be discussed. The reality remains that port characteristics are limited and vessel traffic routing measure initiatives and upgrades to SAR assets are commendable but slow-paced. It is true that both the United States and Canada are taking proper measures to build up infrastructure needs, but they both may run out of time to put adequate infrastructure in place to deal effectively with the changing environment.


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