Port stakeholder perceptions of Sandy impacts: a case study of Red Hook, New York

John Ryan-Henry,Austin Becker

doi:10.1080/03088839.2020.1729434

Abstract

ABSTRACT Understanding the impacts of coastal storm hazards on all maritime port system stakeholders (e.g. operators, tenants, clients, workers, communities, governments) is essential to comprehensive climate change resilience planning. While direct damages and indirect impacts are quantifiable through economic data and modeling, qualitative data on the intangible consequences of storms are necessary to explicate interdependencies between stakeholders as well as conditions that substantially affect response and recovery capacities. This case study explores Hurricane Sandy storm impacts using evidence solicited from stakeholder representatives and extracted from contemporaneous and technical accounts of storm impacts on the port system at Red Hook Container Terminal, Brooklyn, New York, USA. Results highlight the wide range of direct damages, indirect costs, and intangible consequences impacting stakeholders across institutional boundaries and requiring coordination for recovery, providing insight into stakeholder relationships and dependencies in the post-disaster response and recovery process that are often not fully accounted for in current vulnerability assessment and response planning methodologies.

Highlights

Maritime ports are critical to the national transportation infrastructure, providing access to an oceangoing international trade network which accounts for more than 80% of the global trade by volume, including critical imports ranging from vehicles and raw materials to food and medical supplies (UNCTAD 2018)
In order to comprehensively capture the range of impacts to the full Red Hook Container Terminal (RHCT) stakeholder cluster, ‘impact’ is defined broadly to encompass the full range of direct damages, indirect costs, and intangible consequences (IPCC 2012) which result from a major storm and which meaningfully disrupt the ability of a stakeholder to engage in normal operations
The experience of RHCT stakeholders in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy demonstrated the advantages and challenges of resilience planning to minimize the propagation of storm impacts through the stakeholder cluster

Summary

Introduction

Maritime ports are critical to the national transportation infrastructure, providing access to an oceangoing international trade network which accounts for more than 80% of the global trade by volume, including critical imports ranging from vehicles and raw materials to food and medical supplies (UNCTAD 2018). As climate change leads to rising sea levels and intensified storm impacts in many parts of the globe (Melillo et al 2014), ports must account for and adapt to these changes over both mid- and long-term planning horizons (Becker et al 2018; USDOT 2014; EPA 2008). Different port stakeholders play different roles in the port’s resilience decision-making, including through direct planning (in the case of internal stakeholders such as owners and operators) and through external economic or political influence The port stakeholder cluster (De Langan 2004) includes port owners and operators; tenants, shippers, and other port clients; government regulators responsible for the safety and economic vitality of the national port system; and surrounding communities which depend on ports for access to the global economy and for employment (Ward 2001; Becker et al 2013).

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