Resilience4Ports:
Knowledge Library

Through this program, Resilience Rising aim to mobilize a critical mass to create the scale and momentum necessary to break through the industry’s barriers to resilience. The program will improve the resilience practice across the ports value chain by bringing together stakeholders and a community of practitioners around a common framework to raise awareness and strengthen relationships, create a shared understanding of the needs and challenges, and clarify and connect decision-making and investment that can be taken to scale.

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This report outlines the potential role of nature-based solutions (NBS) in ports, demonstrating how they can be integrated into port planning, design, and operations to address key challenges while enhancing climate resilience and delivering additional co-benefits.

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The Navigating a Changing Climate Action Plan is an international initiative aimed at addressing climate change challenges in the maritime sector. It focuses on integrating climate considerations into maritime planning and decision-making processes. The partnership engages with diverse stakeholders, sharing resources and best practices to enhance climate resilience. By promoting cooperation and awareness, the plan seeks to ensure a sustainable and climate-resilient future for the maritime industry, including governments, port authorities, academia, and NGOs.

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The Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap project aims to outline a common vision and agree upon industry-wide actions for achieving net zero carbon in the construction, operation, and demolition of buildings and infrastructure in the UK. The main areas of discussion include the carbon footprint for the UK built environment, the Net Zero Carbon trajectory to 2050, and policy recommendations with industry action plans to deliver the 2050 scenario.

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The Climate Resilience and Design Guidelines serves to supplement the building code requirements through incorporating climate change projections, namely sea level rise, into their design process of infrastructure. These efforts aim to guide the port authority’s goal of bolstering better safety, service, and resilience of infrastructure to withstand the increase in climate change hazard.

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Port Economics, Management, and Policy analyses the contemporary port industry and how ports are organized to serve the global economy and regional and local development needs. It uses a conceptual background supported by extensive fieldwork and empirical observations, such as analyzing flows, ports, and the strategies and policies articulating their dynamics.

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In response to the rising threat of climate change, the Port of Long Beach developed the Climate Adaptation and Coastal Resiliency Plan to aid in managing risks caused from these hazards. The Coastal Resiliency Plan offers a framework to both determine and manage climate change risk, (i.e., sea level rise) to ensure sufficient preparedness and to maintain functionality of port operations and supply chain efforts.

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A self-assessment tool that places ports at the forefront of community resilience in the marine transportation sector. The PRI aims to provide an assessment tool to analyse a ports preparedness for functionality and operation during and post-disaster. This approach is offered in a simplified format that targets ports strengths and vulnerabilities within their site management and operations.

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The objective of this research is to move from the aspirational concept of resilience to a standardized framework for creation of resilience in ports and transportation systems by integrating physical infrastructure and social systems. It takes a fully functioning maritime and shore-side distribution system for successful supply chain operations. A combination of stakeholder interviews and workshops provided insights into the resilience processes. One of the challenges to adopting more stringent design standards was the uncertainty surrounding future conditions. Another recommendation of the study involves the suggestion for port regions to organize along the entire supply chain including transport and distribution activities beyond local marine terminals. A suggested organizational scheme is proposed with coordinating bodies at the regional and state level that would interact with local port waterside and landside logistics teams prior to, during, and after a supply chain disruption.

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ESPO’s Climate Change Adaptation Position Paper highlights the urgency of climate change adaptation for European ports. It emphasizes the serious threat climate change poses to port infrastructure, including rising sea levels and extreme weather events. The paper calls for mainstreaming climate change adaptation into EU legislation and financial instruments. Strengthened funding options are urged to cover the increased financial burden of adapting port infrastructure. The importance of reliable data-driven climate proofing guidance and the recognition of ports as critical infrastructure are emphasized. ESPO urges immediate action to integrate climate adaptation strategies into port planning and decision-making to ensure their resilience and sustainability in the face of climate challenges.

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This sheet is a summary of the PMCR broader report. It aims to evaluate the port sector in Colombia to identify varying climate risks and the corresponding stakeholders impacted by this risk. It summarizes the BRPM tool used to assess ports by conducting a value-chain analysis that focuses on climate risks and impacts. These results are then used to inform potential resilience solutions to the risk associated with ports in Colombia.

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PIANC’s “Resilience of the Maritime and Inland Waterborne Transport System” provides a comprehensive overview of enhancing resilience in the transport sector. The document highlights the importance of mitigating risks and building adaptive capacity to withstand disruptions caused by natural disasters, climate change, and other shocks. It explores various resilience strategies, including infrastructure planning, risk assessment, emergency response measures, and adaptive governance. By fostering collaboration among stakeholders and incorporating resilience principles into decision-making, the guidance aims to create a robust and adaptable maritime and inland waterborne transport system that can effectively cope with challenges and ensure continued operation and sustainability in the face of uncertainties.

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The Resilience Shift Primer: Ports provides guidance on building resilience in port infrastructure. It highlights the increasing risks ports face from climate change and other hazards. The primer emphasizes the importance of understanding and managing risks through comprehensive assessments, collaboration with stakeholders, and implementing adaptive strategies. Key elements include flexibility in design, integration of risk management in decision-making, and fostering a culture of resilience. It outlines practical steps to enhance resilience, including contingency planning, data-driven decision-making, and continuous learning. By adopting these principles, ports can improve their ability to withstand disruptions and ensure sustained operations in a changing and uncertain environment.

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The report Resilience4Ports highlights the importance of enhancing port resilience to withstand disruptions and uncertainties. It emphasizes the need for a systems approach, involving stakeholders, to effectively address challenges in ports worldwide. The report identifies key resilience attributes and recommends the integration of resilience into port management practices. Emphasis is placed on understanding vulnerabilities and promoting adaptability, considering climate change impacts. Furthermore, the report calls for collaboration between governments, port operators, and communities to develop resilient strategies that can ensure continuous and sustainable port operations, supporting global trade and economic growth.

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The Review of Maritime Transport is an UNCTAD flagship report, published annually since 1968 provides an analysis of structural and cyclical changes affecting seaborne trade, ports and shipping, as well as an extensive collection of statistics from maritime trade and transport.
This year’s edition of the report has a special focus on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the industry and includes a special chapter on the challenges seafarers face in view of the crewing crisis.

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Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, IAPH set up a COVID-19 Taskforce. Additional port experts have now joined, establishing IAPH’s Risk and Resilience Technical Committee. The publication is focussed on organisational resilience models for Port Authorities, by analysing risks, understanding spheres of control and influence and developing before/during/after plans. The portal has been designed as a pragmatic, practical tool that can be applied by a port irrespective of size, technical characteristics or governance model.
The guidelines are focussed on organisational resilience models for Port Authorities, based on analysing the risks they face, understanding their spheres of control and influence (and thus stakeholders they need to engage with), and developing a ‘before/during/after’ plan.

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The Joint SedNet-Navigating a Changing Climate Workshop, held on February 10th-11th, 2021, focused on sediment management’s significance in addressing climate change challenges. The outcomes highlighted the role of sediments as carbon sinks, aiding in greenhouse gas mitigation. Proper sediment management in coastal areas can enhance carbon storage, reduce emissions, and bolster coastal resilience against erosion while promoting ecosystem health. The workshop emphasized the importance of recognizing and implementing sustainable sediment management strategies to harness their potential for climate change mitigation and create more resilient environments.

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Severe shipping disruptions in California’s major ports, Long Beach and Los Angeles, caused record-breaking queues of container ships in October 2021. The congestion was attributed to a surge in cargo due to global pandemic production shifts and longstanding supply chain challenges. The backlog created delays in unloading. Increased consumer goods demand, particularly toys and appliances, contributed to the problem. Factors like pandemic-induced labor shortages, port lockdowns in China, and infrastructure inadequacies compounded the crisis. Despite remedial efforts, industry experts anticipated a prolonged backlog.

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The Maritime Resilience Breakthroughs aim to enhance resilience in the maritime sector, particularly focusing on ports. As a major contributor to greenhouse gases, the industry faces challenges from climate change and geopolitical uncertainty. Resilience efforts target climate-adapting ports, taking specific actions to factor in climate risks. Achieving breakthroughs requires a whole system approach involving collaboration among stakeholders, policy makers, and local communities. The initiative, including the Resilience4Ports Lab, seeks to build port resilience by COP27. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure the sector can adapt to changing conditions and recover from shocks, benefiting both ports and coastal communities.

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