From Storm Alert to Action: How Ports Really Manage a Crisis

Ports are on the frontline of climate extremes. Storms, storm surges, flash floods, heatwaves, droughts. When one of these events approaches, the most difficult part is often not the hazard itself. It is turning a warning into coordinated action, fast, with dozens of actors, critical assets, and tight safety margins.

A port is not a single piece of infrastructure. It is a dense eco-system of quays, terminals, power networks, IT systems, ships, trucks, trains, storage areas, and people. One weak link can block the whole chain. That is why crisis management in ports is built as a sequence of decisions, not a single switch.

Let’s walk through what typically happens when a serious storm alert is issued.

When the alert arrives: from weather to local risk

Ports monitor weather every day. But when a potentially severe event is forecast, the way information is used changes.

Meteorological bulletins, wind forecasts, wave height, water levels, currents, rainfall. In many regions, these are complemented by real-time observation systems that measure what is actually happening in the harbour and nearby waters. The first task of the port authority and the harbour master is not just to read the forecast, but to translate it into local risk.

A 90 km/h wind does not have the same meaning everywhere. The impact depends on:

• the orientation of quays and terminals,
• the exposure to waves or surge,
• the ships currently at berth,
• ongoing works or fragile assets,
• the tide and water levels at the expected peak.

Based on this, the port converts the public warning into its own internal alert level. This is where the first operational question appears for shipping: are vessels staying in port or leaving for safer waters? In many ports, this is not informal. Ships must declare their intention early, because a late departure in deteriorating conditions can be more dangerous than staying.

This is the moment when the system shifts from “normal operations” to “risk mode”.

Preparing the system: people, plans, equipment

As the probability of impact increases, the port activates its crisis organisation.

This usually means bringing together a crisis cell or Emergency Operations Centre with:

• port management,
• harbour master and operations,
• technical and infrastructure teams,
• safety and security,
• communication,
• and sometimes external authorities, depending on the context.

The first briefing is short and focused: when is the peak expected, which areas are most exposed, which assets or ships are sensitive, and what are the first actions to take.

On the ground, preparation becomes visible:

• mobile equipment is identified and secured,
• sensitive electrical or IT systems are protected,
• exposed operations are slowed down or stopped,
• operators, terminal managers, shipping lines, and users are informed of possible restrictions.

Nothing spectacular happens yet. But this phase is crucial. Many of the losses during storms do not come from the wind or water directly, but from objects that were not secured, systems that were not isolated, or activities that continued for too long.

Restricting operations: when risk becomes non-linear

As conditions deteriorate, ports start to say no. This is often the hardest part, because the economic impact is immediate, but the safety benefit is to avoid a low-probability, high-consequence accident.

Typically:

• ship movements are progressively limited or suspended depending on wind, waves, currents, and visibility,
• crane work and work at height stop, because wind gusts turn routine operations into high-risk ones,
• mobile equipment, empty containers, and anything that can become a projectile is secured,
• access to some areas, sometimes to the entire port, is restricted,
• only essential staff remains, with standby teams organised.

This is not about overreacting. It is about breaking the chain of escalation. Many serious accidents happen when a small technical problem occurs in already degraded conditions and there are still too many people and activities exposed.

Protective shutdown: when the port goes into shelter mode

If forecasts and observations confirm that conditions will become critical, the port moves into full protection mode.

In many ports, this includes:

• closure to vessel traffic when strong or gale-force winds become imminent,
• evacuation of non-essential personnel,
• reduction of the site to safety and emergency capacity,
• preventive shutdown of some utilities in exposed areas to reduce risks of fire, electrocution, or pollution in case of flooding or damage.

At this point, priorities are simple and strict:

1. protect lives,
2. contain technological and environmental risks,
3. accept that normal operations will resume later.

A resilient system is not one that never stops. It is one that stops in a controlled way and can restart safely.

When something breaks during the storm: a crisis inside the crisis

Extreme events rarely go exactly as planned. Let’s take a concrete example: a crane damaged by extreme wind during the storm.

This immediately creates a new layer of risk:

• possible collapse or falling elements,
• electrical hazards,
• potential impact on nearby ships, pipelines, or buildings.

The first actions are standard and non-negotiable:

• evacuate the area,
• set up a safety perimeter,
• cut power if needed.

Then comes a decision that looks simple but isn’t: do we intervene now or do we stabilise and wait?

If there are people in danger, a fire, or a high risk of pollution, intervention may be unavoidable. But sending responders into extreme conditions can create more victims than solutions. This trade-off is at the heart of crisis management. Resilience is not only about protecting assets. It is also about not creating new risks while trying to fix the first ones.

After the storm: reopening is a process, not a switch

When the weather calms down, the crisis is not over. Before normal operations can resume, the port has to answer a simple question: is it safe?

This usually involves:

• surveys of basins and access channels to detect submerged hazards,
• inspections of quays, terminals, power networks, and IT systems,
• checks on cranes, handling equipment, and safety systems.

Return to work is staged. Critical teams first, then progressive restart of activities. Traffic is prioritised. Some terminals may reopen faster than others. This phase is as much about avoiding secondary accidents as it is about speed.

Damage is also documented early and thoroughly. Not only for technical reasons, but because recovery is also financial and legal. Insurance claims, repair contracts, and future investments all depend on what is recorded in those first days.

What resilience really means for ports

It is tempting to reduce resilience to concrete and steel. Higher quays. Stronger breakwaters. Bigger pumps. All of that matters, and many ports are investing heavily in these measures, sometimes combining them with nature-based solutions such as wetlands or reefs to reduce wave energy and flood impacts.

But operational resilience is just as important. It relies on:

• clear thresholds and decision authority,
• trained people and rehearsed procedures,
• coordination between port authorities, terminals, coast guard, civil protection, and logistics actors,
• the ability to manage cascading failures across energy, IT, access roads, and industrial systems.

A port does not fail because one wall is too low. It fails because decisions come too late, information does not circulate, or systems depend too much on each other without backups.

Why this matters for projects like SAFARI

In SAFARI, this “in-between” space is exactly where the work happens. Between the alert and the action. Between the action and the recovery.

The goal is not only to make infrastructure stronger, but to make decision chains faster, clearer, and more robust, using better data, better coordination, and better anticipation of how failures propagate through complex port systems.

Because in a changing climate, extreme events will not be rare exceptions. They will be stress tests that come back again and again. And the difference between a controlled shutdown and a chaotic crisis is not luck. It is preparation, organisation, and learning from every event.

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