Failure modes in the maritime transportation system
– a functional approach to throughput vulnerability
Port paper that will be published in an upcoming issue of Maritime Policy and Management.
Øyvind Berle
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
James B. Rice Jr.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Bjørn Egil Asbjørnslett
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
ABSTRACT: Maritime transportation systems are essential for world trade; it is crucial to
understand how these systems may fail, to be able to maintain their capacity. In this paper, the
maritime transportation system is seen as a throughput mechanism; a technical system which
serves its purpose by moving goods for its dependents. Understanding which key functions
and capabilities are prerequisite for the ability to move goods, the loss of which are the failure
modes, allows for the creation of a ‘business continuity plan’ for the maritime transportation
system.
Through two surveys and interviews with maritime transportation industry stakeholders, it
was observed that while stakeholders in the industry have a solid focus on frequent
operational risks, there is a lack of awareness of vulnerabilities, as well as methods for
addressing and planning for low-frequency high-impact disruption scenarios. The presented
approach provides a structured set of matrices of the key functions of the maritime
transportation system, allowing stakeholders to increase the system’s resilience through
preparing to restore this limited number of critical functions.