Book Review: Intermodal Maritime Security: Supply Chain Risk Mitigation

Edited by Gary Gordon and Richard Young. Elsevier; 400 pages; $94.50

Maritime security has garnered attention in recent years as a result of reporting on the effects of piracy, cyberattacks, and even the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardless, the complexity and importance of maritime shipping and port operations remain a mystery to many people not involved in the industry.

This book provides an excellent overview of the enormous challenges faced by the industry in the maritime supply chain and its connections to other modes of transportation. Both editors and the contributing authors have excellent academic credentials and have clearly carried out extensive research into the field. The book is written for U.S. audiences with many references to U.S. regulations and standards, but it may be of use to international practitioners as well.

Intermodal Maritime Security provides an extensive overview of the components of the maritime transportation system, the factors that affect its security, and commercial drivers. Of note is the detailed description of the components of the maritime supply chain. Initial discussions of enterprise risk also recognize the myriad drivers in ports and shipping, including financial, regulatory, and broader geopolitical concerns. These are important in the inherently competitive and multinational world of shipping that is often overlooked when addressing security concerns.

The book’s strengths are in the sections on overall maritime transportation system and the regulatory regimes and programs, as well as related cybersecurity concerns, but it could have benefited from more coverage of operational technologies along with a discussion about ports’ tendency to adopt a single window system for data submission and the associated risks.

In discussions of risk, there is a broad description of existing approaches to risk assessment and management with a recommendation that the U.S. Department of Defense’s CARVER model be adopted for the maritime domain.

This book is well worth the investment for those who are interested in the increasingly complex field of supply chain security and how the security of ports and shipping both affect and are affected by this dynamic field.

Reviewer: Mike Edgerton, CPP, is the manager of port security for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and he was previously an international port security consultant based in the Middle East. He is also a retired military officer with service in both the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy.