An increasingly complex energy landscape and a rising dependency on digital systems are making power outages a significant and growing threat to the transport and logistics sector. Ports and terminals must enhance their resilience to these disruptions.
The Rising Hazard of Power Failures
Power failures are becoming more frequent and severe due to several complex factors in the energy grid.
- Cascading Failures: Minor incidents can trigger major regional blackouts, such as the Iberian Peninsula example in April 2025, where a transformer trip led to a cascading failure across multiple countries.
- Grid Instability: Balancing electricity grids is becoming more difficult due to the increasing mix of intermittent renewable sources (wind, solar) with baseload power (fossil fuel, nuclear).
- Extreme Weather Vulnerability: Substations and infrastructure are often not designed to withstand today’s climate extremes, making them vulnerable to surges and failures during storms or heatwaves.
Increasing Exposure for Ports
Ports and terminals are now highly vulnerable to power loss due to their reliance on electrical and digital systems.
- Digital Dependency: Essential functions like port and terminal operating systems, communications, and inventory management are digital, making them inaccessible when power is lost.
- Electrical Equipment Risk: A sudden shutdown can damage high-voltage quay cranes, and improperly restarting them can cause cable faults. Electrical vehicles and plant will stop when batteries deplete.
- Supply Chain Impact: Critical systems like water pumps for drinking and firefighting will stop working without power.
- Resource Scarcity: During major regional outages, resources for recovery are severely limited, as emergency services receive priority for generators, and electrical contractors will be in high demand.
Mitigating Risk Through Crisis Management
Port and terminal operators must implement a structured crisis management plan to reduce commercial and safety risks.
- Criticality Assessment: Determine which systems are essential and establish the maximum acceptable downtime before operations are catastrophically affected.
- IT Infrastructure Redundancy: Build resilience into information technology by ensuring critical servers, websites, and communication tools remain available, such as by hosting key documents on a separate, resilient server estate.
- Emergency Power Planning: Arrange for back-up power sources, including generators or batteries, and ensure there are appropriate fuel stockpiles and transfer systems (like hand pumps) for prolonged outages.
- Safe Shutdown Protocol: Establish a vital protocol for a complete, safe shutdown, which is often the most responsible response. This includes:
- Staff Drills: Train staff to cease work immediately if conditions become unsafe (e.g., in dark, unventilated buildings without alarms).
- Equipment Safety: Ensure fail-safe braking and emergency lowering systems are in place and regularly practiced for handling equipment.
- Traffic Control: Shutting gates to prevent dangerous traffic buildup on site, while recognizing the potential impact on the local hinterland.
- Communication Resilience: Plan for a total mobile network failure by using VHF radios or other non-centralized systems, and maintain paper copies of emergency plans and contact lists.
Planning for Recovery
Beyond immediate impact reduction, planning for the recovery phase is essential for a fast and safe return to operation.
- System Restarting: Plan and drill procedures for restarting high-voltage systems, as power surges can damage equipment, particularly older cables.
- Traffic Management: Establish clear protocols for communicating with drivers, customers, and authorities to manage the queue of hundreds of trucks that could accumulate at the gate.
- Staff Welfare: Ensure plans are in place to support the workforce during prolonged outages, addressing potential disruptions to access to food, water, and salary payments.
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Source: TT Club
