Current status of risk management process at major Baltic Sea region seaports. An interview study

Abstract

Seaports are confronted with risks from different areas, such as the operational, technical and economic dimension. Examples for these risks include flooding, oil spills and fire explosions. The only way to cope with these major challenges is to install and maintain a proper risk management in the seaports and its actors involved in the daily operations. Due to their complex nature, seaports require special risk management processes and measures that in many cases span across multiple entities and organizations, which is not addressed by most traditional risk management approaches. The interviews conducted in BSR seaports will provide the basis for better understanding the risk management methods currently employed by all relevant seaport internal actors, such as private firms, rescue services, and civil protection agencies. The study supports a cross firm investigation by conducting expert interviews in the Port of Hamburg (Germany), several ports in Finland, the Port of Klaipéda (Lithuania), and the Port of Tallinn (Estonia).