Terrorist attacks and related implications in recent years have established a threat of extreme severity. Apart from casualties, a terrorist attack can lead to significant economic losses. This applies equally to transportation, since it is represents one of the prerequisites that enables and fosters economic activity at local, regional, national and international level. The freight sector, while being less attractive to the terrorist than the passenger transportation sector, demands equal attention. Supply chains play the key role for global commerce and are potentially attractive targets for terrorism. Hence, protecting the supply chain and its associated critical infrastructure represents a challenge nowadays. Since complete protection is unrealistic and economically unfeasible, there is need for identification and prioritization of vulnerability of locations. Although there has been significant research related to passenger transportation security, the same cannot be said about freight transportation, except in the case of hazardous goods. This paper presents a screening/ evaluation methodology for the identification and prioritization of potential target locations with respect to freight transport based on a multi criteria analysis. The methodology will essentially assess the degree of the vulnerability of a specific location with respect to terrorist attack employing freight transportation, either as means for launching the attack or by using cargo itself as the weapon. Thus, it will provide a tool for the authorities to develop countermeasures ensuring that these will be appropriately allocated to such potentially target locations.
Samenvatting