Port Risk Management in Container Terminals

Abstract

World trade increasingly relies on longer, larger and more complex port systems, where maritime transportation is a vital backbone of such operations. Port systems are more prone to being risk oriented. Many specific methods have been found to assess risk and safety in a port area or operation. A review is presented of different approaches to quantify the risk in port area. On the other hand, there is no specific risk management method or framework to cope with threats and hazards as a whole. This conceptual paper presents a Port Risk Management (PRM) methodology, seeking to transfer the safety-oriented Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) framework into the domain of port container terminal. The PRM methodology, has been developed to model all the probable port risks, by taking into account its different factors and their mutual influences. This paper presents a risk management methodology into the domain of port container terminals. This methodology constitutes a decision support framework that will be used to conduct port to port risk evaluations or to assess a whole port's and terminal's overall risk level in order to facilitate continues improvement strategies. An empirical study is contacted in order to provide evidence for risk management at the port container terminals in Greece. There is a need for methodologies and tools for assessing and managing the overall risk in maritime and port operations, which are increasingly complex and are dependable by systematic and nonsystematic risks. The critical impact on a number of port stakeholders has established a new methodology and a port risk index a considerable task.