Risks and Reliability Assessment in Maritime Port Logistics

Abstract

One of the most frustrating problems when dealing with risks it’s that they come in so many different forms. They can appear at any point in a port logistic system, they can interrupt the supply of raw materials or products, they can cause demand fluctuations (peak or collapse), inventory problems (lack or crowding), dispatch delay. Risks can range on a scale from small delay to a natural disaster, from short term to a permanent damage, with effects localized on a part of a supply chain or affecting the whole chain activity. The risk management allows port administration to take appropriate measures to reduce the consequences of a risk, to provide a good reliability of the logistic system or to design a resilient one. The paper investigates the major risks in port logistics and adequate measures to minimizing their effects. A risk management tree is set-up. Using computer simulation modelling, a case study investigates the port logistic system behaviour under different risk scenarios and evaluates the reliability of the system and its resilience. The operation capacity for different port logistics sub-system is assessed taking into consideration the required operating standards and the measures of performance (e.g. waiting time for vessels and transport vehicles, storage area and time for commodities) of the logistic system are computed.