Terrorist warning from underwriter
A leading British underwriter has warned that global super ports represent an attractive target to terrorists. Justin Priestley, head of the special risks and terrorism team at Aon Corp says transport infrastructure is a favourite terrorist target because of the severe economic disruption it would cause.
Speaking at the International Union of Marine Insurance conference in Singapore, Priestley said: “Ports around the world now face the risk of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) terrorist threats along with other threats such as home-made bombs.
“If an important or super port was affected by a CBRN attack, the effects of any contamination would persist for a long time and the cleanup costs would be huge.
Any concerns over the reliability of the port would also translate into significant global disruptions.
“Any subsequent copycat threats, would succeed in disrupting crucial port operations all over the world even if they did not physically succeed, as the threat would be enough to draw a reaction.”
“It is very predictable, ” Priestley concluded. “Port schedules and shipping routes and timetables are fixed and terrorists are aware of that.
They study and do reconnaissance of these targets all over the world. The only thing the industry can do is to increase their security capabilities, ” he said adding that the ISPS code was a step in the right direction.
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