Freight Transportation Security and Productivity
Executive Summary

Fifth EU/US Forum on Intermodal Freight Transport

Jacksonville, Florida

April 11-13, 2001

Author:

Michael Wolfe
North River Consulting Group

Prepared for:

Office of Freight Management and Operations
Federal Highway Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation

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Preface

No essay on freight transportation security and productivity is likely ever to be truly "done." This important topic is dynamic, and Federal Highway Administration and the author welcome comments and suggestions. The points of contact are below.

The paper is another in a series that provide analysis and discussion of the trends and issues affecting freight transportation productivity in the United States and North America. The working papers are circulated to generate discussion about emerging freight issues and may be updated in response to feedback from public and private sector stakeholders.

The opinions expressed in the working papers are those of the authors, not the Federal Highway Administration.

The series of trends and issues papers is available at FHWA's web site.

This working paper was prepared by Michael Wolfe of The North River Consulting Group, a member of a Battelle Team providing research and analysis support to the Federal Highway Administration, Office of Freight Management and Operations. The papers were prepared under contract DTFH61-97-C-00010, BAT-99-020.

Bruce Lambert of the Office of Freight Management and Operations is the project manager. He is the primary contact for comments about all of the papers and may be reached at 202-366-4241, email Bruce.Lambert@fhwa.dot.gov.

Mr. Wolfe may be reached at 781-834-4169, email noriver@att.net.

Notes for readers:

• The full version of the report contains an identical Executive Summary.
• The paper is formatted to print best on 8.5 by 11 inch paper.

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Freight Transportation Security and Productivity
Executive Summary

This paper is about the interplay between security and freight-related economic vitality. Its primary goal is to frame topics, put them in context, and stimulate discussion. Another goal is to identify and suggest approaches that support both enhanced security and freight system productivity, which many refer to as win/win solutions. While it is not a policy paper, the author shares judgments, conclusions, and implicit recommendations throughout. One section of the main report scans freight security progress by mode and major function, such as hazmat and international trade; that section is largely omitted from the Executive Summary. All source credits are in the main report.

Security and supply chain efficiency relate closely to each other. Some observe that global supply chains, trade, and containerization magnify security risks. Others argue that security countermeasures threaten supply chain efficiency. A few people suggest that integrated supply chains offer tools to better manage security risks while improving efficiency. All three points of view have merit and the stakes are huge.

Improved productivity of freight transportation and logistics has been an engine of prosperity and competitive advantage, reducing total costs of production and freeing resources for other uses. Business logistics costs dropped from 16.1 percent of U.S. GDP in 1980 to 10.1 percent in 2000. Businesses made such progress by taking advantage of deregulation and applying information technology. They knit business functions together, collaborated across company boundaries, and increased efficiency through the disciplines of supply chain management. As inventories dropped, so did inventory variability and the variability of demand on transportation, permitting the shift of resources away from logistics. The six percent reduction in GDP share over twenty years generated a benefit, in 2000 alone, of up to $600 billion in a $10 trillion economy.

Freight transportation and the logistics systems into which it is woven have become lean and tightly coupled, but progress also created new risks. Predictability and reliable deliveries are critical and, as the paper will discuss, those characteristics are threatened by some efforts to increase security.

Threats, Vulnerability, and Countermeasures

A discussion about freight security and productivity will be more useful if it is set in the context of freight-related threats, vulnerability, and countermeasures. This section addresses those areas.

Threats

Although it is very difficult to predict specific threats to specific targets, it is easier to predict the bigger picture: experts believe the U.S. and other developed nations can expect more catastrophic terrorism. Threats exist to freight infrastructure and operations. As September 11 emphasized, there is also a serious risk that terrorists will try to turn transportation assets into weapons. All of these threats may originate domestically as well as internationally. Domestic threats, which may come from extremist citizen groups or foreign terrorists operating in the United States, are also relevant to trading partners concerned about U.S. exports.

Vulnerability

The consensus among knowledgeable observers is that the freight transportation system in the U.S. and internationally is quite vulnerable to terrorist attack. Vulnerability to freight-oriented terrorism is multi-faceted, reflecting the diversity, ubiquity, and openness of freight transportation systems-terrorists have an immense array of choices. Freight systems were designed and are operated for economic efficiency and profit, not for security. Increasing dependence on containerization and global supply chains multiply security risks.

Vulnerability must be viewed from two perspectives; point attacks against a single element and systemic attacks against the infrastructure as a whole. Because of the decentralized and redundant character of the freight system, observers believed that systemic vulnerability was low. Several factors, however, challenge that conclusion. September 11 showed that terrorists could carry out operations that are more complex. Analysts are more aware of systemic risks via indirect attack upon supporting infrastructures, such as power generation or telecommunications. Finally, we are more aware that customer, operator, and public confidence in the freight transportation system are critical and subject to attack.

Types of Countermeasures

There are two types of countermeasures: one to prevent attacks and another to mitigate the impact of attacks. Preventive countermeasures cannot stop all attacks. In most cases they improve the odds or deflect terrorist attention to less well-protected targets. Since security cannot be guaranteed, only managed, mitigation countermeasures are important.

Types of Impacts

There are many ways to look at the impacts of terrorism and security measures and it is useful to divide them into three categories. Two categories relate to terrorist events and emergency responses to them. The third category relates more to economics and persist longer.

Primary Impacts and Direct Secondary Impacts

Primary impacts result from successful terrorist incidents. The focus is on actual damage, casualties, and disruption. Direct secondary impacts encompass the effects of the rescue and recovery effort. The focus in this second type of impact is on clearing damage, mobilizing support resources, and mitigating congestion.

The emergency response community describes dealing with these impacts as "consequence management," which is a form of impact mitigation. Private firms may use different terms, but they also do consequence management. Firms that make and ship dangerous goods do the best job, motivated by a mix of self-interest, good citizenship, and regulatory mandate.

Indirect Secondary Impacts

These impacts come from countermeasures, not terrorists. Initiators may be public, private, for-profit, or volunteer organizations. A short-term example was shutting down the U.S. aviation system after September 11. A longer-term example is continuing security delays in processing air cargo. Indirect secondary impacts may have profound implications because of their geographic breadth, functional scope, and potential persistence over time. Except for extraordinarily catastrophic events, such as multiple nuclear explosions, indirect secondary impacts are likely over time to outweigh primary and direct secondary impacts.

Exhibit ES-1 illustrates how emergency events and countermeasures drive impacts, plus some of the mechanisms that operate in each type of impact. The left-hand column shows a classic planning cycle for terrorist threats. The dotted arrow below the countermeasures box indicates that total security is impossible and some successful terrorist events are likely to "leak through" over time.

Implications of Indirect Secondary Impacts

Indirect secondary impacts of security countermeasures are fundamentally economic. They can erode productivity by increasing the cost of providing private and public services and by disrupting efficient business processes. Impacts also can be positive, such as eliminating network bottlenecks in mid-Atlantic rail service or improving intransit visibility. Some indirect secondary impacts are rather straightforward and well commented upon. Other impacts are more subtle, or less obvious, or less the subject of public discussion.

Security Costs

There is no comprehensive information about added costs of security measures, only suggestive discussions, anecdotes, and occasional nuggets of data. For example, Robert Delaney, a respected observer of logistics trends, estimated that trucking and airfreight carriers would incur $2 billion in added security costs. If Delaney is correct, then his aggregate cost estimates should be considered relative to carrier profits and profit margins. That comparison makes security costs appear more daunting because margins will not sustain large new investments in security.

Insurance is an important component of increased security costs. Rates, already rising for most freight-related coverages, accelerated after September 11. No mode was unscathed. Better security practices should yield lower future premiums for theft coverage, but they are unlikely to lower terrorism or war risk premiums. Rates are a useful measure, but Total Cost of Risk is a better metric: "the sum of a company's outlays for insurance, retained losses, and risk management administration." Insurers raised deductibles, are refusing coverage in more cases, and some are withdrawing from cargo business lines. The Total Cost of Risk is rising faster than rates. Some shippers and carriers will be left with much greater risk exposure, and major losses could put corporate survival at risk.

Operating Practices

It was unusual even a year ago to find much consideration given to a relationship between security risks and supply chain management. The events of September 11 brought the topic to the fore, which was a productive side effect.

Most discussion about security impacts on productivity addressed threats to Just-in-Time systems and inventory levels. Some discussion addressed sourcing closer to demand and adding redundancy, as several experts advised firms to shift some offshore production back to the U.S. The overall message was that there might be some fine-tuning, but no significant changes in supply chain practices.

Moving from operations to business contingency planning, there were two themes. Some discussion was almost dismissive in tone, for example asserting that there have always been uncertainties in international trade and that you cannot predict terrorism. However, one writer detected more active but very private contingency planning and he forecast greater potential for change than the consensus view.

The cautionary tone is more appropriate. The less concerned observers implicitly view September 11 as a one-time event, or assume that subsequent attacks will not produce significantly different government reactions. They are not considering the risk of repeated major terrorist events and greater government countermeasures.

Underlying Dynamics. Reliability is critical to understanding the potential impacts of security on supply chain productivity. Driving unreliability out of the supply chain allows synchronizing production to demand, eliminating inventory, and increasing efficiency. Predictability is most important.

In transportation, logistics costs increase and service levels decline as delivery time reliability decreases. Sensitivity to delivery reliability also appears to be directly related to supply chain tautness. Indirect secondary impacts are likely to fall hardest on long, lean, international supply chains.

Long Term Infrastructure Requirements

Looking ahead one or two decades, private sector reactions to terrorism may affect public policy issues related to freight flows, infrastructure adequacy, and congestion. For example, FHWA forecasts regional freight increases up to 100 percent by 2020 and Customs estimates that commerce through US ports will increase two-to-three times by 2020.

Discussions of security impacts contain clues that may alter long-term forecasts. Talk of relocating sources of supply closer to demand would fade away if there were no more major attacks—but more major attacks are likely. Some events will disrupt supply chain flows and reinforce decisions to shrink sourcing patterns. Given offshore cost advantages, revised sourcing is likely to slow trade growth rates, not reverse trends; but small percentage changes over decades have profound impacts. It seems prudent to pay greater attention to low point forecasts.

Factors That Compound Economic Risks

Three factors multiply vulnerability to indirect secondary impacts. Each stands alone, but they can interact with greater effects. The terrorist risks will persist over time and so will these risk factors.

"Wolfe's Paradox." This paradox suggests "overall logistics systems capabilities are growing simultaneously more robust and more fragile." One irony that suggests the paradox is that sophisticated JIT supply chains are more subject to delivery disruptions than older, less efficient models.

Well-tuned supply chain management systems excel in handling relatively small variations in supply or demand—variations within their competence and design capacity. Those systems cannot respond effectively to conditions far beyond their normal operating circumstances, such as large, sudden spikes in demand (a military surge) or plunges in supply (sudden imposition of tighter security controls). The events following September 11 may foreshadow future impacts of the paradox.

"Complex Terrorism." Thomas Homer-Dixon used the term "complex terrorism" recently after describing how a well-organized but low technology assault on the nation's power grid might disrupt traffic, water, sewer, and financial systems. He agrees that the "first rule of modern terrorism" is "Find the critical but non-redundant parts of the system and sabotage…them according to your purposes." The risks of complex terrorism magnify Wolfe's Paradox, which argues that logistics systems fragility increases with unanticipated failures in information infrastructure such as GPS, the Internet, telecommunications, or power supply.

The Potential for Self-Inflicted Wounds. Exhibit ES-1 hints at an important feature of indirect secondary impacts. The feedback loop from successful "Terrorist Events" to "Threats and Assessments" implies these impacts are subject to sudden changes imposed by government security and regulatory bodies—indirect secondary impacts have an inherent instability.

That instability powers a "next event/overreaction" hypothesis. Terrorists could find whatever damage they inflict in subsequent attacks to be less than that done to the U.S. and its trading partners through disproportionate overreactions—damage inflicted through indirect secondary impacts. One commentator asked "How rational will we remain after the second or third major successful attack?" Raw emotion and political overreaction may distort the plan/re-plan cycle.

Win/Win Mitigation

This section addresses the paper's goal of identifying and discussing ways to enhance security and supply chain productivity at the same time. Improved security will be expensive, but it is possible to mitigate the total cost because some security measures, if they are designed and implemented well, can also improve efficiency, customer service, and theft losses. First, we propose an assessment tool and then we discuss several win/win examples.

A Win/Win Template Integrates Both Perspectives

It is helpful to have a method to assess a proposal's potential to improve both security and productivity. A simple way to do this starts by describing the evaluation criteria or filters that are important to each goal, and the following lists summarize those criteria. Weaving together those items produces a qualitative template—a conceptual model—to help design and evaluate improvements. This approach helps insure, for example, that security certification, notification, and verification processes get designed into the best supply chain management practices, and vice-versa.

Security Perspective. These items appear to be the critical security-oriented filters with which to judge proposals:

• Assure the integrity of the conveyance loading, documentation, and sealing process.
• Reduce significantly the risk of tampering in transit, ultimately with comprehensive monitoring for tampering and intrusion.
• Provide accurate, complete, and secure information about shipments, available to those who need it in a timely manner.

Supply Chain Perspective. These are the critical supply chain-oriented filters:

• Adhering to the best security practices and standards would earn commitments from government officials to process and inspect qualifying shipments in ways that permit highly reliable and predictable processing times.
• The best security and anti-tampering practices would be byproducts of excellent supply chain management practices, not no-value additions.
• Commercial information given to authorities would be fully protected.
• Authorities will harmonize and standardize security processes.

Examples of Win/Win Approaches

A Vision of the Possibilities. Jonathan Byrnes, a software entrepreneur, shipping executive, and university lecturer, offers the most optimistic vision. He believes better "security can radically improve productivity if thoughtfully done." Better security could be coupled with 20-30 percent supply chain cost reductions for "the normal stuff of commerce." The core of a "thoughtfully done" security regime would emphasize consistent, predictable flows and that would help drive more variance out of the entire system. In addition to improving transportation reliability, less variance could eliminate "undiscipline" within manufacturing plants, warehouses, and stores.

Improving Supply Chain Management. Some improved business practices can yield a byproduct of better security. For example, Yossi Sheffi, Co-Director of MIT's Center for Transportation Studies, suggested several strategies to reduce unreliable delivery times. He calls for improved vertical coordination within supply chains and better horizontal coordination to improve security within industries, cutting across supply chains. Sheffi also argues that standardization adds a security bonus to business benefits, "creating redundancy and the ability to recover quickly."

Improving Visibility and Control. Improving visibility into and control of supply chains is the single most recommended approach to simultaneously improve supply chain management and security. Inadequate visibility undercuts business performance and security. It aggravates the inventory bullwhip effect, limits flexibility, and provides opaque windows that may hide cargo tampering. Excellent visibility, however, offers three types of benefits. The first is efficiency and productivity, saving cycle time and labor hours. The second is service quality, as increased awareness adds flexibility and increases customer confidence. The third is shipment and service integrity, as better monitoring improves security against tampering and theft.

The visibility discussion is confusing. People and firms mean many different things by "visibility." The lack of clarity sows confusion, doubt, and delay in the marketplace, definitely slowing progress. To begin sorting this out, one must ask visibility of what, by what means, in what time frames, and from what sources?

For a supply chain security discussion, visibility of shipment items and transportation assets are both important. Timeliness needs range from prior to vessel departure from overseas ports to nearly immediate for intrusion sensor violation alerts. Useful data may come from shippers, carriers, receivers, or third parties.

There are two means to better visibility. The first is the information system(s) that manage, manipulate, and display visibility information. The second category is the event- or transaction-driven tools that convert a physical event into a data entry for the software systems. This category is critical because it determines the quality of source data in the software systems and constrains the value of those systems.

Technical problems related to visibility may not be trivial, but they appear much less difficult than institutional problems. The emphasis on security may provide a catalyst that increases the rate of progress and overcomes institutional resistance.

High potential visibility technologies. There are five visibility-related technologies with potential to enhance both security and supply chain productivity.

• Supply chain software such as asset management tools and logistics portals that are tuned to accommodate security applications.
• Electronic cargo seals.
• Other point-oriented and portable sensors that can monitor cargo and conveyance conditions, such as contraband "sniffers."
• Wide area communications integrated with sensors and GPS-like location technologies.
• Biometrics tools to enable positive identification of authorized personnel.

Integrating the Pieces—Conclusions

A recurring theme in security topics is trading-off expediency and effectiveness, speed and quality, interim and long-term progress. Security gaps need urgent attention, using the best tools at hand, but the tools at hand seldom provide the best answers. This applies, for example, to pushing cargo verification back in the pipeline (to origin ports or factories); to harmonizing international security regimes (bilateral or multilateral); and to applying new technologies (off-the-shelf or R&D).

Balancing Priorities

Priorities are especially challenging to the public sector because of the wide array of security risks. This list summarizes the apparent priorities in the U.S. today, and it reflects reasonable choices. As the higher priorities are addressed, officials must move on to the lower priorities.

• Because of the potential for a "bomb in a box," the top freight priority is general cargo in international commerce. The Coast Guard, however, is addressing all vessel types, not just containerships.
• The major domestic freight priority appears to be hazardous materials.
• Air cargo priority is greater for mixed flights than pure freighters.
• Domestic general commodity movements receive sporadic, idiosyncratic security attention, such as spot checks at major bridges or tunnels.
• Exports receive little more than traditional export control reviews.

International Trade

Border Protection vs. the Win/Win Template. The template provides a lens to assess current progress and initiatives. Some elements of the template are present in the developing programs, but there is still a considerable gap.

The U.S. Customs Service is building on its history of successful partnerships with shippers and carriers. Industry partners, many of them part of sophisticated supply chains, could work with Customs on deeper integration of security and supply chain processes. Commissioner Bonner's public statements also show an appreciation for the payoffs of richer integration.

The gap widens when we shift from broad visions and strategies to more applied discussions and activities. The focus of Customs' Container Security Initiative on certification and inspection in ten megaports is inconsistent with the template unless viewed as an essential interim step toward global uniformity.

Harmonization. Since incompatible security standards among trading partners would not foster efficiency, harmonization should be multilateral and universal to best fit the win/win template. However, harmonization is difficult, affected by the number of sovereign states, international organizations of uneven effectiveness, and some divergence of interests. Sovereign equality notwithstanding, some voices are more influential than others. The magnets of big markets draw cooperation.

U.S. officials recognize the value of harmonization. They are testing the willingness and limits of organizations such as the IMO to enact and sustain security measures that meet U.S. objectives. However, in the interest of speed, we see increasing attention to bilateral approaches. Although this may be the practical way to proceed, a bilateral focus may miss opportunities for multilateral solutions.

Reciprocity. Reciprocity is necessary in an effective cargo security regime. Reciprocity implies massive changes for the U.S. in order to inspect exports. Fairplay noted that "pushing back borders" "would require customs agencies throughout the world to reverse their focus, from imports to exports."

Reciprocity is easy to accept in principal, but the "next event/overreaction" hypothesis could transform the psychological and political dynamics. This potential for escalating sensitivity makes it important to reshape the public dialog. Bringing reciprocity issues and concerns to the fore with the press, senior officials, and congressional leaders is a step to assure adequate resource allocation for export screening and to sustain reciprocity in difficult times.

Technology—Making Judgments and Accelerating Deployment

Public and private sector leaders must make judgments about when new or improved security products and processes are sufficiently stable and cost-effective to merit deployment and—perhaps—regulatory mandates. An extended set of pilot tests and demonstrations could be an excellent tool, with independently evaluated pilots addressing multiple scenarios and vendor products across the technology groupings. The old mass transit Service and Methods Demonstration (SMD) program offers a model. In terms of visibility, it would also accelerate progress to inject more clarity and consistency into the dialog.

Reaping technology benefits also requires consistent and coherent standards, many of them international. Standards must be flexible enough to accommodate both a growing installed base and continuing technology improvements.

Security Improvements Create New Risks and Beneficiaries

Virtually every security advance will carry the seeds of another problem. MIT faculty identified a "Conundrum of Security vs. Standardization:" tighter security standards also create new security risks. They also pointed out that impacts will be asymmetric, as the costs and benefits fall unequally on firms and communities.

Reducing Factors that Compound Economic Risks

Next Event/Overreaction Hypothesis. It is important that policy-makers and opinion leaders buffer potential overreactions to future attacks. The first challenge is to improve extended cargo security. The second challenge is for leaders to accept for themselves and then educate the public about the implications of imperfect security. As supply chain security expert Steven Flynn pointed out, we must frame debate so inevitable security breakdowns are treated as military losses in the course of an extended war, not as triggers for counterproductive overreaction. Prudent business leaders should also accelerate their firms' preparedness measures and help educate the public sector.

Complex Terrorism and Wolfe's Paradox. To some extent, system managers and security experts are addressing complex terrorism, which most affects areas such as power distribution and telecommunications. It seems most important to identify, prioritize, and mitigate non-redundant items and processes and potential vicious cycles. Easing the paradox calls for rigorous efforts to understand the scenarios most likely to trigger fragility, then to prioritize and mitigate the risks.

Raising the Bar for Supply Chain Management and Security

Security managers should encourage supply chain managers to extend vertical "intercompany operating ties" and horizontal security coordination within their industries and across supply chains. Standardization of processes and practices across an enterprise offers business and security benefits, creating redundancy and the ability to recover quickly.

Both security and supply chain managers may find the win/win template helpful. If both groups keep in mind the goal of weaving together the best from both of their perspectives, it may be possible to make significant advances. "Thoughtfully done" security measures, as Byrnes put it, "can radically improve productivity." It would be a signal victory to foster security while driving down variability from manufacturing through all the intermediate processes to the end-user.