Ports Around the World are Vulnerable to Climate change

An article in the Economist states that ports worldwide are vulnerable to extreme events like strong winds, storms, and hurricanes because port infrastructure is exposed to the elements by nature.

The article says that because ports are entry points for global trade and handle about 80% of the world’s goods, damaging ports’ infrastructure and assets has far-reaching consequences.

The article provides some recent examples of port damage caused by extreme events. For instance, the strong gale winds that ripped the dock walls of Milwaukee port disrupted its trading routes. Hurricane Katrina closed three ports, affecting US agricultural goods distribution and higher food prices.

Another study modelled the impacts of flooding in the port of Rotterdam, Netherlands. The results showed that flooding would increase trading costs by up to 86%, excluding the cost of damages to assets and infrastructure.

These examples highlight the importance of making ports more resilient to the effects of climate change and its consequences on global trade and, more specifically, on our food and necessary supplies if nothing is done about it.

While wealthy countries have built defences around their ports, the article says most ports worldwide are ill-prepared, and ageing infrastructure is one of the most common problems.

A survey asked 67 ports if they had performed climate-risk assessments, installed early warning systems, or made contingency plans.

Only 15% of the ports had done all three, and one in 5 ports did not do anything at all. A reason why ports fail to do something to improve resilience is that it is not clear who should be responsible for this action, the article says.

Click the link to read the Economist article:

European ports are also at risk from climate change, particularly sea-level rise, extreme weather conditions, and erosion. A position paper has been published highlighting the need for climate change adaptation in ports due to their increasing vulnerability to climate change.

The European Sea Ports Organization (ESPO) expressed the need for adaptation measures to be implemented in their ports, such as (1) Mainstream climate change adaptation into EU legislation and financial instruments, (2) strengthening funding for infrastructure adaptation and investment, (3) invest in data-driven climate-proofing guidelines and (4) recognise ports as critical infrastructure.

Click on the link to read the position paper: