Port Security: Importance, Threats, and Threat Mitigation Strategies

Port Security
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Abstract
The maritime transport sector is the focal point for the movement of goods worldwide and is therefore of great importance for America's economy and the whole world. Nearly every industry is associated with maritime shipping, and therefore ensuring port security is critical to sustaining global trade and commerce, supporting social and economic development. This research paper focused on investigating the nature of port security in America, focusing on answering the three research questions: What are the threats facing port security? What are threat mitigation strategies in place? and What are the challenges faced in ensuring port security? Consequently, the research paper will aim to answer the following research questions. This study employed primary and secondary research methods to answer the three questions. The primary research process involved Skype interviews with ten port officials working in the five biggest ports across the country: Los Angeles, New York, Long Beach, Savannah, and Brunswick. A minimum of ten questions covering port security, ISPS Code implementation, port security challenges, port preparedness, and security coordination and implementation were posed to the respondents. The interviews were supplemented with a systematic literature review of maritime, transport, security, global policy, and business administration journals covering relevant port security issues. The study findings revealed that the biggest security issue facing American ports was terrorism and that lack of resources and poor training were the biggest impediments to the implementation of the ISPS Code. Current port-security threat mitigation strategies are relatively ineffective or impractical, and the study recommends active intelligence sharing as the most sustainable port security solution.
Port Security
Introduction
Port security refers to the protection and defense of the port domain to ensure an environment where trade can be carried out with the judiciously high assurance of being unimpeded by criminal activity or without becoming a channel for criminal activity. Port security is a growing concern worldwide due to the importance of ports in global commerce and today's progressively sophisticated security environment (Ringsberg & Cole, 2020). Common threats facing ports include terrorism, smuggling, cargo theft, human trafficking, piracy, human trafficking, drug trafficking, armed robbery, illegal fishing, and environmental pollution (Takoradi & Kusi, 2015). Port security aims to limit opportunities for criminal exploitation of the port transportation system, its users, or its providers by detecting and preventing losses resulting from criminal activities. This aim can only be achieved through proactive security operations involving intelligence and investigative coordination between security departments of the maritime industry and law enforcement agencies (Eski, 2011).
Port security also entails the capacity to evaluate and respond appropriately to port threats, promote awareness within the port community of possible threats and existing security plans, and the facility to practice preparedness (Taylor & Kaufman, 2008). This research paper will conduct a study of port security with a specific focus on the vulnerabilities of today's ports, the threat mitigation strategies currently in place, and the challenges maritime security departments encounter in enforcing security plans. The study paper will also evaluate the effectiveness of current responses to improving port security and provide several recommendations on better meeting current and future port security needs. It is hoped that the research will help increase awareness of port security vulnerabilities and help develop sustainable threat mitigation strategies that can best address them. Consequently, the research paper will aim to answer the following research questions:
1 What are the threats facing port security?
2 What are threat mitigation strategies in place?
3 What are the challenges faced in ensuring port security?
Literature Review
Importance of Port Security
The maritime transport sector is a critical facilitator of international trade, extending across all national and global boundaries. 80% of all world trade by volume is conducted via sea, where America accounts for 20% of the global ocean-borne overseas trade (Peterson & Treat, 2009). The maritime transport sector is not just a facilitator of global trade but also a noteworthy exportable service in numerous nations that contributes directly to national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The importance of maritime trade to America and world economies is expected to double in the next decade, and any disruptions to that trade are bound to have even greater economic impacts for all nations given the increased interconnectedness of the world (Bichou, 2008; Brown, 2006). For this reason, port security is critical to ensuring a global network of dependable, well-organized, and cost-effective maritime transport services for developed and developing nations that rely on trade-in price and time-sensitive goods as a significant portion of their economies.
Port Security Threats
Certain risk factors threaten the safety of ports and, by extension, the economies of countries that rely on maritime transport, particularly terrorism, cargo theft, piracy, and armed robbery. One of the biggest concerns as relates to port security is the terrorist threat: after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the maritime industry was awakened to the possibility of terrorists using cargo containers to carry out widespread attacks on U.S. ports, thereby disrupting global trade and world economies (Farisi et al., 2020). Opportunities to harm in maritime transportation are broad and disastrous: for instance, terrorists can use the maritime transportation system to smuggle weapons of mass destruction, personnel, and other dangerous materials into the country or even attack liquefied natural gas tankers with devastating consequences (Hasanov & Alsulaiman, 2021). Ports are also vulnerable to armed robbery and piracy, given that commercial cargo ships approaching the port move at slow speeds or are stationary when anchoring in the harbor, making them easy to intercept by a fast-moving boat. Harbor fishing and recreational boats provide a good cover for terrorists or pirates approaching a target ship. Besides, commercial cargo ships are typically operated by very small crews who are unarmed: a small group of armed pirates or criminals can easily seize a ship, as demonstrated by recent cases of armed robbery and piracy in Southeast Asian and East African waters (Min et al., 2019).
Besides, port areas tend to have very extensive landside perimeters to secure, and therefore, criminals have numerous opportunities to carry out cargo theft. A majority of American ports are situated adjacent to built-up urban areas, so criminals have a relatively easy time illegally accessing and escaping from port terminals (Gunawan et al., 2019). It is nearly impossible for port security forces to keep track of all containers entering the port or the large number of trucks coming in and out of the terminal. These security vulnerabilities make it possible for criminals to steal cargo or even smuggle drugs, arms, and people into and out of a port. The complexity of port security is not just limited to physical characteristics but also the nature of containerized shipments. Container ships, unlike cargo ships whose cargo is owned by one company and whose loading and unloading processes happen in one port, carry freight from numerous companies, and containers are loaded and unloaded at various ports. It is not uncommon for a single container shipment to generate up to 40 documents and involve several parties, including the customs broker, importer, inland transportation provider, freight forwarder, ocean carrier, port operators, and customs inspector (Onwuegbuchunam et al., 2021). Criminals rely on these intricacies in the supply chain to obfuscate their smuggling: given the challenges of evaluating the trustworthiness of each party involved, criminals can disguise their contraband, arms, or people in otherwise legitimate cargo without detection or interception for a prolonged period of time.
Drug smugglers have also purchased known exporters with established shipping records to disguise their criminal activities (Helmick, 2007). However, unlike drug smugglers who are more interested in sustainable smuggling methods employed periodically to make several shipments, terrorists tend to rely on unusual vulnerabilities to carry out a single but devastating terrorist attack (North, 2009). This feature makes it more difficult to detect and intercept terrorist operation, even when the potential consequences of not finding the particular security vulnerability is much greater.
Threat Mitigation Strategies
Port security is largely entrusted to federal agencies, including the Coast Guard, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), and the Maritime Administration (MARAD). The Coast Guard is America's primary maritime law enforcement agency and the principal federal agency for the maritime unit of homeland security (Haveman & Shatz, 2006). It is charged with assessing, boarding, and inspecting all commercial ships before docking on U.S. waters to prevent terrorist threats in American ports. On the other hand, the CBP is responsible for inspecting freight containers and examining ship crews and passengers arriving in American ports from foreign countries (Pate et al., 2007). The TSA is an umbrella agency tasked with ensuring the security of all modes of transportation, including sea transport. Lastly, the MARAD is a civilian agency under the Department of Transportation (DOT) responsible for supporting port security initiatives, including developing security reports and planning guides on port security (Thibault et al., 2006). Given the extensive threat of terrorist attacks and criminal activities on ports and their potential to disrupt or impede their growing economic function, the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS-Code) was implemented by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2004 to enhance the security of ships as well as port facilities (Yoon & Gim, 2012). The ISPS Code is a component of the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS), and compliance is compulsory for all contracting parties, including America (Harrald et al., 2004). It applies to all ships making global voyages and focuses on the security aspects of ports and port workers.
The primary objective of the ISPS Code is to: evaluate the activity of cargo activities and people, ascertain the various security threats onboard ships and in port terminals, and execute appropriate measures as per every threat (Suppiah, 2009). The ISPS Code also helps to allocate security levels to ships and assign various assignments at the different security levels, institute the respective duties of the contracting agencies and the port industries, and develop roles and tasks for port officials and ship officers to address maritime security issues (Mazaheri, 2008). Other functions include gathering data on security threats affecting ports and developing ways to tackle them, instituting security assessment methodologies, and facilitating the exchange of port security-related information data between countries and ship owners' networks (Hellberg, 2009).
Challenges in Ensuring Port Security
Despite these extensive measures at curbing terrorism and criminal activities, protecting America's ports against the identified threats is a formidable challenge given the sprawling nature of the U.S. maritime system, over and above, the lack of a central port authority to administer security. For instance, the U.S. maritime system entails more than 1,000 harbor channels and 300 sea and river ports containing more than 3,700 cargo an...