Collaboration of Port Members for Supply Chain Resilience

Hurricanes, like Sandy (October 2012) have demonstrated that reducing the impact of coastal flooding to the maritime supply chain is an economic necessity. Guidelines to aid decision makers to reduce impacts of flooding were developed using lessons learned post Super Storm Sandy at the Port of New York and New Jersey. Preparatory practices in place during Sandy allowed for the successful restoration of water-side marine operations; however restoration of land-side operations was less effective. The principle supply chain breakdown was from cascading failures among the power, communication and transportation sectors. For the supply chain, these cascading failures delayed container terminals’ ability to re-open and connect with inland modal movements. Both waterside and landside transport alignment is needed to recover normal business processes. Guidelines, including the establishment of landside logistic teams similar to the existing waterside teams, are proposed to help facilitate the recovery of the landside supply chain. The guidelines describe possible organizational approaches and methods for restoring normal port supply chain operations through a formal collaborative process.