Stakeholder-Centric Analyses of Simulated Shipping Port Disruptions

The Maritime Transportation System is crucial to the global economy, accounting for more than 80% of global merchandise trade in volume and 67% of its value in 2017. Within the US economy alone, this system accounted for roughly a quarter of GDP in 2018. This paper defines an approach to measure the degree to which individual stakeholders, when disrupted, affect the commodity flows of other stakeholders and the entire port. Using a simulation model based on heterogeneous datasets gathered from fieldwork with Port Everglades in FL, we look at the effect of varying the timing and location of disruptions, as well as response actions, on the flow of imported commodities. Insights based upon our model inform how and when stakeholders can impact one another’s operations and should thereby provide a data-driven, strategic approach to inform the security plans of individual companies and shipping ports as a whole.