Make preparations that count

A scant four months later, ‘the big one’ – Hurricane Sandy – hit hard, with a frontal assault in the form of unprecedented storm surges. The port was closed for several days, only re-opening for business following a careful assessment of damage to facilities, and careful surveys of navigation channels and any restoration work needed.

The successes in New York were not an accident; in remarks at a conference hosted by the North American Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA), Captain Loebl described days of preparation in advance of the storm, a two day incident which climaxed around late evening on October 29.

In his talk at the NAMEPA event, he described numerous conference calls with various stakeholders around the waterfront, getting everyone’s hatches battened down, and sowing the seeds for a return to normal in the days after the storm.

One revealing snippet was a conversation between Captain Loebl and New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo regarding the status of waterways in the port. Supply chains for automotive gasoline, a major concern to drivers, were disrupted because of landside electrical and mechanical problems at fuel terminals – not due to restrictions on navigation. The port had already re-opened as Mr Cuomo was implementing a rationing scheme for petrol-starved motorists.

The good planning efforts by the US Coast Guard, followed up by a shipshape implementation, had other ramifications. Around New York, tunnels for cars and trains were flooded, increasing the reliance on a ferry system that has again absorbed surges (of commuters) as the other transport modes were put offline, or were operating at severely reduced capacity.

The storm exposed numerous physical and systemic flaws in New York’s aging infrastructure, where roadways and rail lines were out of action for two weeks and counting. As maritime commuting becomes an entrenched part of the local scene and intra-harbour movements have gained traffic, the importance of getting the maritime transport system back online within days (not weeks) should be recognised, in New York and elsewhere.

To Captain Loebl, I give a big ‘shout out’ to celebrate your good works in my home town.