Port security
Port security is part of a broader definition concerning maritime security. It refers to the defense, law and treaty enforcement, and Counterterrorism activities that fall within the port and maritime domain. It includes the protection of the seaports themselves and the protection and inspection of the cargo moving through the ports. Security risks related to ports often focus on either the physical security of the port, or security risks within the maritime supply chain.
Internationally, port security is governed by rules issued by the International Maritime Organization and its 2002 International Ship and Port Facility Security Code. Additionally, some United States–based programs have become de facto global port security programs, including the Container Security Initiative and the Customs Trade Partnership against Terrorism. However, some businesses argue that port security governance measures are ineffective and costly and that it negatively impacts maritime transport costs.
Maritime Supply Chain and Port Security
Physical port security involves the risks to the perimeters of the port. Risks to port security involves natural risks such as hurricanes and flooding, man-made risks such as operator error, and weapon risks such as chemical, biological and nuclear material. It also involves adequate security systems within the port, such as security guards, video surveillance and alarm systems.Physical port security also falls under the umbrella of maritime terrorism. Ports are attractive targets for terrorists because ships and cargoes are fixed in time once they enter the port, which removes the uncertainty in relation to the location of the target.
Apart from physical port security, the port is connected to a larger supply chain. There are various risks along this supply chain that can affect port security, such as explosives attached to the vessel or unwanted passengers on the vessel. Ports are "potential targets of illegal activity which may impact their ability to function as intended, and ports as conduits into and out of national borders and supply chains, which can be exploited in order to introduce or move illegal materials, persons, or activities". That involves increasing the number of vulnerabilities to port security to the supply chain.
Port Security Risk Management
Security risk management practices of ports reflect the goal of preparing for the inevitable nature of risk before an event occurs.Physical Port Security Risk Management
Examples of security risk management practices at ports are: employment of a security director, crisis leadership, contingency planning and the use of intelligence. Other measures include physical security barriers, such as CCTV cameras and adequate light at the port in order to ensure that cargo theft does not take place.Maritime Supply Chain Risk Management
Examples of risk management practices within the maritime supply chain include ISPC, CSI and whole-of-supply chain outcomes, CTPT. These efforts have been criticised as the use of quantitative and statistical approach to security in the maritime supply chain is argued to overlook low probability, high impact events.Cyberspace Security Risk Management
Examples of cyberspace security risk management practices of ports are: investment in cyber defense mechanisms for port infrastructure, cybersecurity awareness and training programs. These programs educate employees about cyber risks, to help prevent and to mitigate potential cyber threats.Other measures include collaboration and information sharing. Collaboration with other relevant actors in the maritime sector can help ports stay well informed about global cyber threats, which in turn can help preemptively to address emerging cyber threats.
Privatisation of Port Security
Port security is often in the literature depicted as a responsibility of the state, as it concerns national security. Yet, the emergence of private security actors has also influenced aspects of port security governance. In the case of a port in Indonesian, the involvement of so many different types of state and non- state agencies actually lessened security.Emerging Port Security Risks
Cyber Risks
Maritime security is undergoing rapid digitalization and technological advancements, leading to an increased reliance on onshore infrastructure to support critical maritime operations. The increased connectivity and digitization of services in the maritime industry has impacted the risk of cyber attacks and threats in several ways. It has expanded the attack surface, created new threats, created a hostile threat environment, and increased vulnerabilities onshore.Malware Insertion
Maritime cyber risks include attacks on ports and port systems. Attacks such as malware insertion, including cyber and ransomware attacks. In these attacks, cyber criminals encrypt computers and networks within the onshore infrastructure, demanding a ransom in exchange for decryption.Business Email Compromise Fraud
Other cyber risks include Business Email Compromise Fraud. In this instance, cyber criminals trick employees into wiring them money to a foreign account. In reality, the account belongs to the cyber criminals, which they will gain monetary benefits from.Cyber Espionage
Foreign state espionage in the maritime sector is another cyber risk, threatening port security. It involves hackers employed by states to conduct cyber espionage. What the state hackers will gain from espionage is an insight into onshore facilities, like ports. Their intentions are strategic, aiming to acquire foreign technology, possibly to develop the cyber criminals’ destructive cyber attack capacity.Surveillance
Another cyber risk ports are faced with is hackers that are compromising IT systems on board of ships, allowing the cyber criminals to gain an insight into, for an example, the ship’s location and cargo. Ports use a variety of sensors, such as Wi- Fi and satellite-based Internet systems which are increasingly automated. Such systems are vulnerable to penetration and manipulation and risk being misused for hacktivism and by terrorists. Not only can this affect port security in terms of the parameters of the surface of the port, but a possible hacking of data can be used to trace ships and mislead them for hijacking purposes.Liquefied Natural Gas Trade
Technological developments coupled with the U.S. Shale Revolution has allowed for increasing exports of liquefied natural gas. The commodity, consisting of 70-90 percent methane and 0-20 percent of butane, propane and ethane is similar to crude oil as it forms through pressurising and heating.LNG derives at onshore or offshore ports, where the infrastructure at the port contains terminals that bring the LNG further. It can either be attached to a gas liqufication or storage plant, a regasification and storage plant or just a storage and distribution plant. The infrastructure at LNG terminals are therefore concerned with highly flammable content that is of security risk to personnel. Onshore LNG ports that are located close to cities or dense populations are also a security risk to the area surrounding the port. Risks to port security will vary considerably and depend on the waiting position of a tanker, location of the port, and security risk management practices of each specific port.
LNG is naturally linked to maritime terrorism, as disputed areas and chokepoints -such as the Strait of Malacca and Singapore Strait- has the potential to result in hijacking and bombs as the area becomes more active. As the new demand centres for LNG is most notably in Asian countries such as China, India, Japan and South Korea, new geopolitical tensions might increase in the region between LNG- exporting countries such as the U.S., Russia and Qatar. This also relates to energy security, as import dependent countries are vulnerable to a sudden stop in supply of LNG.
Port Security in the United States
Following the September 11 Attacks, the U.S. Government acknowledged the threat of unsecured ports and shipping containers. By 2001, the U.S. economy was already heavily reliant on maritime shipping, and that reliance was set to double by 2020. Former U.S. Coast Guard officer Stephen Flynn has stated that interest in shipping container security has seen a definitive shift pre and post-9/11. Shipping container and port security pre-9/11 was focused primarily on promoting the advancement of globalization. These interests were prioritised over sea and border defence. Additionally, prior to 9/11, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection was more focused on combating drug smuggling.The maritime suicide bombing carried out against the USS Cole in October 2000 by Al-Qaeda illustrated the probability of future maritime based terrorist attacks against the U.S. In response, terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda were flagged as the largest threat to maritime supply chains; as their maritime skills were rapidly improving and U.S. maritime security regimes remained weak.
However, post-9/11, the U.S. government realized the risks and threats associated with unsecured maritime transport - particularly the containerised transport of nuclear material into U.S. ports. Additionally, the U.S. government showed an interest in funding and developing homeland security, which has been critiqued by maritime experts as merely ‘constructing barricades to fend off terrorists’. In the years since, academics have called for the creation of an international security regime that allows the U.S. ‘to remain an open, prosperous, free and globally engaged society’ as more than 6000 international vessels and 100,000 seafarers visit U.S. ports every year.
Shipping Container Surveillance
Every year, the United States Marine Transportation System moves more than 2 billion tons of domestic and international goods. It imports 3.3 billion tons of domestic oil, transports 134 million passengers by ferry, serves the 78 million Americans engaged in recreational boating and hosts more than 5 million cruise ship passengers a year.Although shipping containers have been widely used since World War II, in 2002 it was estimated that less than 3% of the 20 million containers that entered U.S. ports were scanned or inspected.
This statistic is made clearer when understood in the context of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s protocol. At Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, 82% of the product passing through is "trusted" by the Customs agents as routine activity.
Only 18% of the shipments are an "anomaly" to the known shipments. This, in addition to the requirements for shippers to provide cargo lists, explains the reasoning behind such low search figures.