CritSupPort

The project consortium comprises the following organizations:

• inter 3 GmbH Institut für Ressourcenmanagement, Berlin
• Technische Universität Hamburg (TUHH), Institut für Maritime Logistik, Hamburg
• Technische Hochschule Köln, Köln
• Bonn Consulting Group GmbH, Bonn
• Logistik-Initiative Hamburg Management GmbH (LIHH), Hamburg
• Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg (HAW), Hamburg

Ports are key hubs in global supply chains and play a crucial role in ensuring security of supply for the economy and society. Disruptions caused by crises, extreme weather events, geopolitical conflicts or technical failures can have far-reaching consequences here. This makes it all the more important to systematically understand and specifically strengthen the resilience of port and logistics systems. As part of the CritSupPort project, the logistical, technical, organisational and communicative processes involved in port operations, as well as their interdependencies in the pre- and post-transport phases, are being investigated. The focus is on the scientific development of methods for the system-analytical description of complex logistical infrastructures under crisis conditions. By combining empirical analyses with model-based approaches, the aim is to gain new insights into the functionality, vulnerability and adaptability of port and logistics systems. A key objective is also the development of a generalisable system model of the port that integrates logistical, organisational, technical and communicative structures and can thereby represent both normal and crisis operations. This model forms the basis for deriving measures to strengthen security of supply and for developing decision-making and communication procedures that enable the coordinated prioritisation and supply of critical goods in the event of a crisis; it also represents a methodological innovation, as it analyses and evaluates the cross-sectoral interdependencies between actors, processes and information flows in such depth for the first time.