The Convergence of Transportation Congestion and Transportation Security at a U.S. Seaport
Name of Author
Institution of Affiliation
Table of Contents
Contents
Abstract 3
Introduction. 4
Definition of terms: 4
Question. 8
Literature Review.. 8
Discussion. 12
References
. 24Abstract
International sea transportation of commercial goods is an important and sensitive part of the supply program in many organizations. Therefore, issues such as security and congestion at the seaport are critical matters of concern that need to be handled in order to enhance importation and exportation as well as efficiency of international trade (Yeo, Pak " Yang, 2013).
The biggest challenge to the Maritime Transportation System (MTS) is the continued growth of the international trade sector and the ability of the sea transportation systems to accommodate increasing volumes of freight containers, which are vital for the growth of the U.S. economy. According to predictions, freight volumes is projected to increase up to twice its level from 2001 to 2020, which means that U.S. seaports will experience increased pressure throughout the years. With the increasing trade volumes, U.S. intermodal transportation systems must also increase to sustain trade acts and manage the State’s economy (Altiok, 2011). Another challenge to international seaport trade is security. Therefore it is the role of the government and the industry sector to protect the State against adverse effects caused by terrorism acts while not affecting trade flow, which would affect the State’s economy.
Introduction
Definition of terms:
MTS- Maritime Transportation System
AAPA- American Association of Port Authorities
DHS- Department of Homeland Security
RAMCAP-Plus- Risk Analysis and Management for Critical Asset Protection
GAO- Government Accountability Office
NPRN- National Port Readiness Network
DOD- Department of Defense
NIPP- National Infrastructure Protection Plan
PRA- Probabilistic Risk Assessment
ILWU- International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union
CSI- Container Security Initiative
CCTV- Closed Circuit Television
RFID- Radio Frequency Identification
GPS- Global Positioning Systems
TWIC- Transportation Worker Identification Credential
International sea transportation of commercial goods is an important and sensitive part of the supply program in many organizations. Therefore, issues such as security and congestion at the seaport are critical matters of concern that need to be handled in order to enhance importation and exportation as well as efficiency of international trade in accordance with Yeo, Pak " Yang (2013). One area of concern is potential terrorist acts through importation of nuclear and biological weapons, bombs, chemicals and ammunition into the U.S. Such cases have been reported by the Department of Homeland Security and recognized as areas of concern that need to be critically addressed. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection aids in establishing smooth flow of supply chain operations across the sea and improving on factors that cause congestion and delays to goods entering U.S.A (Barnes " Oloruntoba, 2005).
Certain factors that cause delays thus leading to congestion of shipping containers at the port include natural disasters and calamities such as storms, port disruptions and delays related to security issues for instance when a shipping container is suspected to contain dangerous or harmful commodities, it is more likely to be withheld at the seaport pending further investigations and inquiries. A certain tool was introduced at seaports to increase efficiency of port services. The tool displays data on container movements back and forth the port, it estimates transportation distance for international shipping containers entering and leaving U.S. seaports and it has a developed network system for marking container movements during transportation. Through the international network system, flow diversions can be implemented between U.S. seaports because of proper establishment of security measures or port disruptions.
U.S.A. carries out international trade with approximately 46 countries, according to the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) in 2009. AAPA displays that there are approximately 96% of U.S. imports made through seaports while exports are estimated to be 93%. Canada and Mexico are excluded from the sea trade statistics because almost all import-export trade movements are conducted via land border crossings and not through the sea. Additionally, AAPA estimates that over 90% of shipping containers leaving and entering U.S.A. pass through 14 main seaports. The ports are located at Houston along the Gulf Coast; Miami, Norfolk-Hampton Roads, Baltimore, Charleston, Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale), New York, Savannah and Jacksonville at the Atlantic shore; Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, Tacoma and Long Beach at the Pacific shores. Apart from terrorism incidences, another drawback to international sea trade is the time the Pacific Maritime Association Board of Directors temporarily closed down the ports located on the Pacific Coast (Frittelli, 2008). The work suspension of seaport personnel, caused transportation costs to increase by 43.92%. Furthermore, when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hits Southern California, an additional 14.75% transportation costs is increased whereas the ports located at Long Beach and Los Angeles are closed down for around 2 weeks. When a hurricane is predicted along the Atlantic Coast, the ports at Charleston and Savannah are temporarily closed down, which causes transportation costs to increase by 0.64%. A decrease in throughput at the Oakland Port because of security measures affects overall shipping costs by approximately 0.53%. When activities at the main international ports are disrupted, regional ports absorb the function of shipping the containers through other routes. According to Price (2004), the main target ports for terrorists are Seattle, Tacoma, Los Angeles, Oakland, Baltimore, Long Beach, New Jersey and New York.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) utilizes a certain program that estimates threats posed to transportation assets, systems and infrastructure and effectively manages them. The program efficiently points out and categorizes assets that are critical, which if attacked through terrorism acts or hit by other threats, they could cause adverse effects to the sea transportation system. Additionally, RAMCAP-Plus enables its users to carry out risks and vulnerability tests, beginning with the marking of critical systems and calculation and the establishment of risk management for the whole seaport facility.
The biggest challenge to the Maritime Transportation System (MTS) is the continued growth of the international trade sector and the ability of the sea transportation systems to accommodate increasing volumes of freight containers, which are vital for the growth of the U.S. economy (Willis " Oritz, 2004). According to predictions, freight volumes is projected to increase up to twice its level from 2001 to 2020, which means that U.S. seaports will experience increased pressure throughout the years. With the increasing trade volumes, U.S. intermodal transportation systems must also increase to sustain trade acts and manage the State’s economy (Wright, Liberatore " Nydick, 2006).
Military deployments systems require utilization of Roll On or Roll Off ships, which are able to ship large-scale aircrafts, tracked motor vehicles, very large cargo and oversized shipment containers. Handling of military equipment such as military vehicles and aircraft would require sufficient port rail systems and port labor force that is specifically trained in handling non-containerized combat cargo. Hence, effectiveness of the services employed in handling military equipment is dependent on the port mobility planning procedures, availability of port loading and off-loading areas and infrastructure specifically designed to handle military equipment. U.S. seaports display promising results in expanding their port operations to accommodate the predicted growth in international sea transportation. If ports were to decrease facilities available for handling non-containerized equipment, such facilities will become scarce thus reducing the capability of U.S. ports to handle future combat deployments.
Another challenge to international seaport trade is security. Therefore it is the role of the government and the industry sector to protect the State against adverse effects caused by terrorism acts while not affecting trade flow, which would affect the State’s economy.
In summary, areas of concern in commercial and military trade acts are congestion of cargo in the ports, availability of cargo staging regions in the ports, communication systems and port rail facilities. Additional issues that mainly affect commercial international trade include access to the ports from the mainland, increasing freight volumes, intermodal connections, transportation signage port and transportation dredging and financing. In deployment of combat materials, two specific areas of concern include training and management of functions among the shippers and the seaports. It can be agreed that infrastructure issues and congestion at the ports are major issues affecting international trade in the United States. In accordance with Cetin " Cerit (2010), approximately half of the ports in the United States stated that cargo congestion causes infrastructure overload and that the condition of their infrastructure impediments are severe. These areas of concern are the same as those reflected by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and studies carried out by Non-Governmental Organizations on Maritime Transportation System (MTS) issues.
Question
How can U.S seaports manage security/emergency measures to reduce congestion and increase efficiency?
Literature Review
In the 1980s, work was conducted concerning freight network models regarding interactions between the carriers and shippers. For such models, it is assumed that carrier demands are recognized and connected to carriers’ network connections such that costs incurred are minimized (Altiok, 2011). In 1985, Friesz and Harker conducted studies that considered decisions made by the carrier with regard to route costs and a spatial price equilibrium curve representing the demand side of the curve. Their research was complicated and proved quite hard to provide sufficient evidence thus raised computational concerns.
In 1995, Casavant, Qu, Jones and Koo conducted studies focusing on wheat exports from the ports located in the Pacific Coast. They composed a spatial price equilibrium curve, which was a problem to quadratic programming. U.S. is estimated to have 11 wheat-exporting ports and 14 wheat-importing regions. The principal variables in the spatial price equilibrium model are cargo flows and regional prices. The model is used to determine effects of possible future changes in the international trade market for example Chinese quarantine on U.S. wheat exportations as well as changes in the regional transportation network for instance the blockage of the Columbia-Snake River system due to barges, flow of cargo through the ports, regional prices of commodities among others.
Grigalunas and Luo (2003) estimated a flow model specifically for predicting the number of containers passing through various U.S. seaports and estimating how different port charges would affect the volumes of cargo. Their flow model is because shippers strife to minimize shipping costs, inventory and logistics costs. However, their model did not include capacity drawbacks, which means it was just a short path estimation calculation. They utilized total flow paths to get summation of port volume.
In 2006, Lee, Chew and Lee developed a complex commodity connection flow model to assist in estimating the port demand at the Asia-Pacific area. The model is used to research on the efficiency of shipment container flow at the ports based on factors such as cost of shipping, reliability and port costs. De Cea, Soto and Fernandez in 2003; Hasan and Safwat in 2004; and Ziliaskapoulos and Agrawal did other improvements made on the freight equilibrium model in 2006. The improvements featured various ways of predicting different modes of transportation and carrier’s choices on shipment routes. In 2007, a more applicable model was devised which enables micro-assignment of cargo shipping. The model evaluates network connections such as consolidation regulations, intermodal transfer ports and port delays. The Department of Defense (DOD) has collaborated with the National Port Readiness Network (NPRN) and the Maritime Administration to come up with 15 designated U.S. seaports as strategic ports effectively spread across the State’s coast borders. Every port has specific capabilities that enable the DOD to receive services and infrastructure required to perform military shipment functions (Barnes " Oloruntoba, 2005). Recently it has been proved that these specific port capabilities can also be used to provide domestic emergency disaster management threats caused by natural calamities.
The shipment of U.S. military equipment is dependent on the trade intermodal cargo transportation network. Military equipment shares a transportation system with commercial freight, which stresses available resources and increases demand on delivery schedules. All military freight is shipped through U.S. commercial trade seaports except for sensitive cargo such as ammunition or other dangerous weapons. Therefore commercial goods and contingency military cargo are shipped through containers but non-containerized military goods such as tanks, wheeled vehicles and other military equipment require a different configuration system. This therefore puts pressure on normal cargo operations at the port including staging areas and the utilization of specialized labor skill to load military surge onto the ship. Shipping of military freight is also sensitive to periods because it requires constant communication between the private and public transportation sectors and complete control over the program by the DOD. If the operation is not planned carefully military shipment can cause disruptions to normal cargo transport operations, thus causing short-term and long-term delays. Additionally, military deployment systems may require seaports to receive cargo from more than 12 various U.S. military bases within a short time span. DOD analysts and planners have adopted a system where commercial cargo is re-directed in the last minute to avoid delays thus ensuring cargo is delivered on time. However, such changes are made abruptly such that the receiving port is not given prior notice.
The ability to meet cargo demands and requirements at the seaport has raised constant alarms. DOD stated that growth of commercial goods volume has led to rising concerns about future reliability of seaport infrastructure to satisfy national security demands and preparedness. It went on to state that the U.S. transportation network must establish a proper system that would be able to accommodate military mobilization demands with increasing trade volumes. In the modern realistic world, sea transportation and emergency management cannot be effectively planned on their own but they must be incorporated in the larger U.S. transportation system planning process such that both national defense and economic needs are met. Federal agencies are working closely with the Maritime Administration and some parts of the Transportation Department in establishing outreach programs that coordinate activities that will assist the maritime body in emergency management and in response and recovery programs linked to maritime transportation security cases and natural calamities. This measures consist of interaction with prime organizational associations and Marine Transportation network stakeholders up training forums, workshops, recovery efforts, real-time disaster preparedness programs, exercises and formulation of a communication network between the larger business society and the Federal government on matters in the private sector that address emergency concerns (Wright, Liberatore " Nydick, 2006).
In October 2005, the U.S. president approved the State Strategy advocating for maritime security. The strategy revolved around main areas that affected sea transportation including protection, recovery from both manufactured and natural disasters, response and preparedness. The Maritime Administration collaborates with some government arms, along with national and county security providers in order to facilitate effective transportation of commercial goods. For an effective transportation system, there must be accountability, interoperability and transparency in order to establish security. For this reason, transportation of commercial goods is directly related to safety and security. A good example is being aware of where their last and next ports call to effectively coordinate transportation through the supply sequence and determine possible security risks (Cetin " Cerit, 2010). Analysis of security risk is dependent on consequence, threat and vulnerability of the cargo.
The Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and the U.S. Coast Guard take the role of maintaining security and ensuring safety of cargo passing through the seaports. A detailed security program applies security measures whereby risks are identified at the earliest time possible. The Maritime Administration catalyzes security measures carried out by the Federal, State and the local county government and the private sector composed of the Marine Transportation System.
Discussion
According to the Department of Homeland Security (2003), Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 established a national regulation so that Federal agents and bodies could identify, establish a priority and protect sensitive infrastructure from terrorism. One plan formed by the Department of Homeland Security is the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), which directs the body’s national strategy for carrying out the President’s Directive. The 18 main sensitive infrastructure and key resource sectors include commercial goods, communication, finance and banking, nuclear reactors, food and agriculture, defense industrial sector, chemical, emergency services, government systems, information technology, critical production, water and dams, transportation systems, shipping and postage. The Transportation Security Administration takes the role of conducting transportation systems. It works with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to ensure protection of transportation infrastructure and transportation security.
Under the NIPP, the U.S. DHS promotes Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) that assesses threats posed by intelligent individuals and bodies through terrorism acts (Medalia, 2005). Currently, the DHS is utilizing the RAMCAP-Plus program to conduct PRA. In accordance with Alion Science and Technology (2007), the RAMCAP-Plus program allows users to carry out risks and vulnerability tests, beginning with the identification of sensitive assets and calculation of risk management for the entire organization. RAMCAP-Plus assists in identification of susceptible areas in an organization’s network, therefore the company’s administration can make the vulnerable regions more resistant to terrorism attacks. Furthermore, RAMCAP-Plus categorizes infrastructure according to the range of flow thus defending the highest flowing infrastructure first before proceeding to the second, third and the rest until all available infrastructure is exhausted.
The U.S. transportation network is rather flexible and quite capable of defending re-routed commodity flows because of infrastructure considered non-operating for one reason or another. When components are evaluated in isolation, they lose connectivity with other key components. Thus, it is advised to model the operations of the transportation network, its functioning and how it would respond to whatever kind of damage.
According to data supplied in 2007, 99% of cargo that came to the United States through seaports was from 67 countries. Under statistics offered by the U.S. Maritime Administration; China is the largest exporter to the United States indicating more than 47% of cargo imported in 2007 and international trade between the two countries grows by 20% annually over the last 10 years.
The graph below indicates trade imports to the U.S. from the State’s ten main trading partners in the years 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2007
United States largest exporters can be categorized into three groups namely Asia consisting of 75.98% of U.S. imports, Europe making up for 13.09% of U.S. imports and South and Central America consisting of 9.98% of U.S. imports.
If a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hits the Los Angeles region along the San Andreas Fault, it can be assumed that such a natural calamity will affect infrastructure in Los Angeles. According to reports, the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports would only sustain minor damages under circumstances that an earthquake occurs. However, the ports will be forced to shut down operations for a period of 2 weeks to almost two months because of damage to roads, rails and pipeline services that connect the ports to the interior regions. The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports are the main seaports for containers originating from Asia. More than 84% of cargo received through the Los Angeles-Long Beach ports come from 8 countries.
The Pie chart below indicates percentage of cargo received at the Los Angeles- Long Beach ports originating from 8 different countries in the year 2006
China/Hong Kong- 47.9% Thailand- 2.6%
Malaysia- 2.0% Japan- 17.0%
South Korea- 5.6% Indonesia- 2.0%
Australia- 2.0% Taiwan- 5.6%
After the temporary closure of the Los Angeles-Long Beach port, the model would be forced to use West Coast ports to deliver cargo to the U.S. Such a closure would increase transportation costs by 14.75%. This therefore, indicates that a temporary closure of the Los Angeles- Long Beach port caused by natural calamities would create surges in the cargo transportation system that would not only be felt on the ports along the Pacific Coast but also on the ports along the Atlantic ports (Wright, Liberatore " Nydick, 2006). Such an event would also influence the truck and rail industries, shipping systems, cargo owners would have to divert their transportations throughout the recovery period. The increase in demand for Atlantic Coast ports for cargo originating from Asia means there would be a substantial increase in cargo traffic along the Panama Canal thus leading to port congestion and delays.
In 2002, the Pacific Maritime Association Administration suspended dockworkers, long shore workers and marine clerks from their seaport terminals as a retaliation action against work slowdown by the International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU). Because of the lockout, Atlantic seaports were closed down. Such a closure affected other ports along the East Coast except the New York- New Jersey port, which remained operational at full capacity. However because the New York- New Jersey port if furthest from Asian trade partners who utilize the West Coast ports, it affects trade operations between U.S.A. and Asian countries.
The 14 major U.S. seaports are vital in international trade and commerce because they oversee 90% of total cargo going in and leaving United States. Hence, if one of these seaports was to be hit by a hurricane, the State’s economic sector would be hardly hit thus a ripple effect would be experienced throughout the country. Hurricane attacks usually impacts coastline where the ports of Charleston and Savannah are located forcing them to close down. Transportation costs and duration consequently increases thus the operator must decide the most suitable network flow that will not increase transportation costs beyond the required limit.
In agreement with Yeo, Pak " Yang (2013), increase in port security measures could affect the port’s import efficiency rate thereby reducing the port’s handling capacity hence affecting export rates and causing delays of cargo. Imported containers are inspected prior being picked up and export cargo is inspected as well before being loaded onto the ship for transportation. This as a measure taken to avoid port delays and increase efficiency of port processing activities however, it was noted that additional inspection efforts coupled with efforts to reduce contraband goods entering the United States resulted to a decrease in port processing rates. Therefore, it was observed that due to increased inspection efforts of cargo before being unloaded from the ship into the U.S., 30% reduction rate in vessel unloading occurred which caused delays (Willis " Oritz, 2004). Major traffic increase has been noted at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports, which handle major imports from Asia.
An intelligent terrorist with adequate resources is able to conduct an attack on cargo transportation systems resulting to the shutdown of Long Beach port would be the prime choice for an ideal terrorist attack (Price, 2004). The second top choice would be the New York port.
The graph below displays the number of worst-case attacks effect on transportation costs according to Medalia (2005).
1- 14.78% increase over the normal costs
2- 28.75% increase over the normal costs
3- 43.9% increase over the normal costs
4- 57.76% increase over the normal costs
5- 78.88% increase over the normal costs
In order to effectively manage ever-increasing cargo at the ports, officials have had to formulate new inventions that would increase efficiency, enhance port security, increase income for port authorities as well as improving the country’s economy. With the increasing need for advanced transportation systems and applications, the U.S. government has introduced programs like the U.S. Customs Service’s Container Security Initiative (CSI) and pilot programs like the Operation Safe Commerce thus pressuring port authorities to adopt new and innovative techniques that will enhance port security. Port managers ought to utilize investments to upgrade their security systems thus enhancing productivity. Therefore, seaport authorities are manipulating technology to enhance port system innovations thus improving the following sectors:
Emergency response system and decision-making processes.
Security of commercial and military goods including containers and non-containerized combat cargo
Flexibility of port operations and efficient resource utilization
Compliance and effective communication between ports and the government
Satisfaction of carriers, port operators and trade partners
Communication is vital to the integration of security and efficiency of operations thus; communication infrastructure should be properly developed. One way is to utilize a common communication infrastructure (Cisco systems), which enable seaports to utilize emerging operational, cost reduction and emerging security opportunities. A common network system has replaced the multiple communication program thus information including videos, voice calls and data can be integrated and assisting seaports in scaling up their communication investment when applying new technological formulas. The common network system also enables cost savings because they require less specialized and fewer staff to operate and maintain.
Application of a networked video surveillance improves safety and security at the seaports. Surveillance systems include utilization of public spaces, access points and digital videos to monitor the port and neighboring regions. In accordance with Chen (2005), the networked video surveillance system has overtime replaced the analog and continuously aging closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance systems. Advantages of the networked video surveillance over the analog CCTV systems include the following:
Transport surveillance by a common communication infrastructure
Easy storage, archiving and retrieval
Use of one camera for numerous purposes
Distribution of video to several devises for example video streams from different locations
Security and effective monitoring of remote regions
Multiple control and management over different port stations from a single surveillance system or video stream
Correlation and reconstruction of events
U.S. seaports handle approximately 6 million imported cargos every year, which means that every day the ports handle roughly 17,000 vessels (Department of Homeland Security, 2003). However, during inspection only 2% of these vessels are opened. Therefore, it should be a priority for seaports to ensure security of cargo as well as preventing unauthorized persons from tampering with the commodities. In order to prevent tampering of cargo, seaport authorities have made use of Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags (Chen 2005). Prospects for the future include integrating RFID with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) on shipping vessels, land vehicles and cranes to maintain cargo integrity while documenting and tracking cargo movement and storage.
Inspection of cargo is very important to ensure that containers do not contain illegal drugs, smuggled weapons or stolen vehicles. Therefore, port authorities are applying noninvasive and reliable inspection of cargo with minimal delays or impact on the flow of containers. The systems utilize x-ray and gamma ray technology to display low-resolution images, which can be sent to the relevant authorities for further inspection or for future references. Additionally, seaports are utilizing more sophisticated sensors to ensure security and proper management of tangible assets and seaport transactions (Frittelli, 2008). More examples include water-based cameras, intelligent fence systems, and infrared motion detectors, biological and chemical detectors. Upcoming remote sensing and biometric systems can effectively enhance a flexible communication and operating infrastructure. Seaports apply Cisco communication infrastructure to assist in coordination of security systems through enhanced communications and data systems. Seaports are driven by the mission to transport cargo efficiently and safely therefore to accomplish this mission; seaports require a flexible, reliable and secure movement of data (Altiok, 2011).
Wireless technologies could be more effective than analog systems for example use of wireless recording systems instead of recording vessel numbers on clipboards. Such an action can assist in saving costs and saving time. The following are examples of wireless application mobility:
Use of wireless communication machines to transmit information throughout sea transportation
Use of wireless hand devises for communication and recording of information thus enhancing efficiency of cargo processing.
Use of voice communication machines to reduce costs as opposed to the unlicensed spectrum or unsecure radio transmissions
Use of wireless or GPS heavy equipment such as forklifts, cranes and trucks
Numerous seaports in the U.S. are embracing wireless technology to assist in seaport operations. Wireless data systems depend on transmissions from a Cisco WLAN system, which taps transmissions through hotspots, internet access points or port networks.
Port authorities strife to increase revenue through enhancing tenant satisfaction by enhancing port security and minimizing delays. It is the role of the port authorities to ensure safe and efficient port business operations thus building trust among the port tenants. According to Willis " Oritz (2004), effective port operations include proper loading and unloading cargo, ensuring that shipping vessels are adequately stocked and repairing containers. If seaport operations are not moving smoothly, it means that tenants will seek alternative me
