Effective maritime security: conceptual model and empirical evidence

In recent years, the issue of maritime security has become a major concern on the international maritime agenda. One of the issues in this respect is how to enhance security while not jeopardizing organizational efficiency and effectiveness, or to manage security effectively, e.g. facilitating the smooth flows of materials while enhancing supply chain security at the same time. In addressing this issue, we place three cornerstones for the effective management of security in maritime transport: quality management (QM), risk management (RM) and business continuity management (BCM). A conceptual model of effective maritime security, including 13 dimensions and 24 associated critical success factors, is devised following this reasoning. The model was tested through a survey of 119 maritime transport organizations and 25 interviews conducted in Vietnam. Findings support that all proposed 24 factors are valid and should be used as critical factors for success in effectively managing security in maritime transport, in that those involving security incident handling and response are rated as the most important in magnitude, along with security risk assessment, risk-based security mitigation strategies and plans, and senior management commitment and leadership. Managers can use the model designed and tested in this research to develop a checklist of essential components for their company's security management policies, strategies and plans. The use of a universal checklist to evaluate maritime security management would also greatly facilitate benchmarking across organizations in the industry.