Trade Recovery. A Complement to Risk Management

This article will discuss how risk management can prevent terrorist activities, but it cannot stop earthquakes or hurricanes, nor prevent every man-made incident. Therefore, countries use trade recovery protocols to respond to an incident and the resulting impact it has on international trade. These plans focus on facilitating the movement of goods and people after a disruption. The article describes how managing trade recovery requires: (1) an accurate understanding of the disruption’s cause; (2) a clear, current assessment of the capacity of the affected transportation system(s); (3) the ability to identify what goods are necessary to respond to the incident; (4) effective communication with those responsible for the movement of goods, people, and conveyances; and (5) facilitation of that movement. Customs administrations may hold responsibility for some or all trade recovery functions since movements often require crossing borders. In the United States, the responsibility for trade recovery is primarily shared between U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). This paper describes how governments cannot simply focus on the area that the incident directly impacts; therefore, the U.S. has taken a holistic view in developing certain protocols. For example, if an incident limits a port’s ability to operate, other ports may have to process cargo that was to arrive at the initially affected area. The U.S. has identified factors for efficient management of a disruption to prepare for this kind of challenge. These factors are: (1) identifying transportation system capacities and constraints; (2) communicating capacities and constraints to stakeholders; (3) collaborating on mitigation plans among public and private stakeholders; (4) resource alignment; and (5) unity of effort to relieve system constraints and increase transportation system capacities.

Language

  • English

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01363012
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Feb 17 2012 8:31AM