Henry Ford, a famous American and founder of the Ford Motor Company in Detroit Michigan, in 1903 said: “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success”.
This statement still rings true in the 21st century and certainly applies to the monumental task of securing our nation’s ports and its cargo against attacks and threats of any kind.
The port community in Savannah, Georgia provides one example of how working together can improve the ability to identify common threats and the interoperability of communication to respond to those threats. By creating a collaborative environment for sharing secure sensitive information, the port is advancing a comprehensive and coordinated response to risk mitigation.
Coming together is a beginning
At its inception, the Center of Innovation for Logistics (COI) focused on maritime-related logistics concerns and began a close collaborative partnership with the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), which continues today. This partnership has since grown and, while it still includes a strong maritime base of activity, now also incorporates a broader perspective on the ecosystem we often refer to as a supply-chain or logistics.
This growth is important because while the volume of containerized cargo flowing across the docks in Savannah is growing faster than any other port in the US, the availability, efficiency and reliability of the other stakeholders involved in moving that cargo inland to its ultimate customers is equally important. These stakeholders span the private industry sectors of trucking, 3PLs, forwarders, brokers, and railroads – just to name a few.
