The Role of Ports in Supply Chain Disruption Management

The recent rise in a number of calamities and terrorist acts has brought much attention to the vulnerabilities of supply chains. Having passed through many hands that span continents and entities, the reliability and timeliness of freight delivery become increasingly difficult to be assessed. Particularly, at seaports which is an indispensible node in global supply chains and where complex sea and land interfaces come into play, the role of ports in maritime supply chain disruptions needs to be explored. The changing functions of ports and the current supply chain trends denote implications that when identified, will allow better development of mitigation strategies for ports. Despite the importance of this issue, most literature focuses on generic disruptions in the supply chain and those that addresses port-related disruptions do not provide a holistic view of risk management in ports. This research thus aims to fill the literature gap by describing guidelines for port management to operationalise by way of a management model constructed through a comprehensive review of previous research and real life cases and in-depth interviews with management from a port and a port user based in Singapore. The aim is to build a more resilient and sustainable port in the light of challenging evolvement of supply chain trends in the dynamic maritime climate. The management model encompasses three fundamental levels of the port, with strategic responses tailored for the institutional, management and operational levels. Implications to the operations and management of ports in the supply chain context are drawn and future research opportunities are discussed accordingly.