Protecting the Supply Chain. The Marine Transportation System Recovery Unit

The U.S. Marine Transportation System (MTS) is an integral part of the global supply chain. The MTS provides passenger transportation by ferry, water taxi, and cruise ship, while supporting the economy, national security objectives and recreational activities. The MTS also includes vessels, vehicles, system users, harbors, waterways, ports, and their intermodal connections. The harbors and waterways component of the marine transportation system is primarily managed and regulated by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). If an incident impacts navigational channels, it is important that USACE quickly survey the affected harbors and waterways to identify potential obstructions that might limit or impede ship transit. The USCG ensures that the necessary aids to navigation are in place to facilitate reopening the navigational waterway. Port terminals and associated marine facilities consist of buildings and slips where ships dock. More than 2,000 major port terminals exist in the U.S. and some are privately owned/operated facilities, while others are owned and operated by state government. The port terminal serves as an exchange site where cargo is disembarked from the ships and transferred to alternate means of transportation. The MTS is impacted if an incident prevents cargo flow. For example, cargo may not be able to be offloaded from the vessel, or moved from the facility if trucks or rail cars cannot access the pier’s loading/unloading site. Commercial ships are regulated by the USCG under strict inspection programs. However, factors such human error, equipment failure, accidents, and heavy weather can disrupt ship operation, which can lead to the inability of this component to do its job of moving cargo. Intermodal connections are hubs of transportation that include rail facilities, roads, and pipelines within or adjacent to the marine terminal. This is the most complex and least understood component of the system. Post-incident recovery of the MTS needs to consider how the cargo is going to depart the seaport since opening the harbors and waterways to receive cargo shipping would not achieve much if the roads and rail systems that move the cargo away from the port are not functional. It is important that all components of the MTS are understood from a recovery standpoint. An effective recovery isn’t accomplished until all components of the system are back in service.

• Record URL:
  http://uscg.mil/proceedings/archive/2011/Vol68_No4_Wint2011-12.pdf
• 
• Authors:
  • Torres, Coral A
• Publication Date: 2011

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: pp 67-68
• Serial:
  • Coast Guard Journal of Safety & Security at Sea, Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council
  • Volume: 68
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: U.S. Coast Guard
  • Serial URL: http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Incident management; Marine terminals; Service disruption; Supply chain management
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Marine Transportation System
• Uncontrolled Terms: Incident response
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management; Terminals and Facilities; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01363010
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 17 2012 8:31AM