A Resilient Path Forward for the Marine Transportation System: Recommendations for Response and Recovery Operations in a Multi-Hazard Environment

Abstract:

The Marine Transportation System (MTS) plays a critical role in U.S. commerce and security, facilitating the movement of over two billion tons of goods annually. As the infrastructure, technological, and management systems that support the MTS evolve, the best practices for the preservation of these functions throughout weather and climate disruptions must be kept current and collaborative. The federal agencies that support the MTS are well-versed in responding to disruptions across coastal and inland ports. However, the COVID-19 pandemic response has presented entirely new and different challenges that must be considered for future planning. The MTS is particularly susceptible to the impacts of coastal storms such as the major hurricanes in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Furthermore, ports and the marine transportation system play a key role in the recovery of the surrounding region after disruption, facilitating the mobilization of response and recovery and the delivery of life-sustaining commodities for impacted communities. To foster collaboration and improve understanding around evolving multi-hazard scenario challenges, the U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System’s (CMTS) Resilience Integrated Action Team (RIAT) has served as a platform to gather relevant federal agencies to contribute impacts, best practices, and lessons learned. Participants in this effort included representatives from Federal agencies who had direct knowledge of their agency’s actions to assist in response and recovery efforts. Agencies were tasked to identify impacts, challenges, and successes they faced, and to identify and prioritize recommendations to minimize the impact and increase preparedness from future multi-hazard scenarios. This work outlines the findings across the 2017, 2018, and 2019 hurricane seasons and the on-going COVID-19 pandemic to determine if challenges have been addressed and the best practices adopted, and to make recommendations to enhance the future resilience of the MTS, given the new constraints of a multi-hazard environment.