Earlier this year the £1 billion (around SGD$1.80 billion) Tilbury container port expansion was announced, and it’s one of several such plans in the likes of the Middle East and China.

Global Maritime subsidiary Eagle Lyon Pope’s Peter Lyall, in an article published by Maritime Journal, said that along with these port developments and expanded operations are potential risks – among them, environmental hazards and the vulnerability to cybercrimes.

When it comes to pollution threats, possible losses can be huge if we add up all the fines, costs of clean-up and disposal, as well as lost earnings from port closures. This highlights the need for appropriate and comprehensive insurance on top of having appropriate risk mitigation measures in place.

As for IT-related risks, advancements in technology come with corresponding exposures. And cyber is no longer just a buzzword.

Other risks include the challenge of safely accommodating bigger ships; the changing role of ports (e.g., decommissioning); and what has been coined as “black swan” events, or those whose probability is low yet the impact is the opposite.

For Lyall, shipping and port risk assessments should be tackled using a balanced, comprehensive, and consistent approach – one that involves all parties, including pollution response personnel and port infrastructure managers.


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