By Mike Jarrett
Regional port executives go to Kingston to discuss impacts on the Caribbean and to plan for 2019 hurricane season
This year the Caribbean was spared the devastation from tropical cyclones in the sense it experienced in 2017, at least up to the time of writing at the end of the Summer. But the message from Michael was chilling.
Hurricane Michael, which formed in the Caribbean near Cuba, ripped through the southern United States with lethal force leaving death and destruction in its wake. First described on October 2, 2018, as an expansive area of low pressure, it became organized within four days and two days after that it had gone through a rapid period of intensification to become a real threat to life and property anywhere it made landfall. The intensification continued and through October 9 when meteorologists started referring to it as a ‘major hurricane’.
It slammed into the US Gulf Coast near Mexico Beach, Florida on October 10 with sustained wind speeds of over 150 miles per hour (250km/h) and from there moved north eastwards to deliver extensive property damage across the states of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Florida’s Panama City, like Mexico Beach, suffered extensive damage. Sections of the cities were completely leveled, with whole houses ripped from their foundations and carried away by the roaring floods. Michael’s relatively short time in the US resulted in about 19 deaths and massive destruction of property. It was said to be the most powerful hurricane to hit the US in generations.
Caribbean vulnerability
This message from Michael, coming so close to the end of the hurricane season, was a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of the Caribbean to super hurricanes, as the climate change that scientists had been warning about for more than a decade becomes increasingly incontestable.
This reality makes the January 2019 PMAC-PORTSIDE Caribbean Port Management Workshop an imperative for all disaster management interests, ports authority, port managers and terminal operators.
The Caribbean Port Management Workshop is an annual regional collaboration between Portside Caribbean magazine, the Port Management Association of the Caribbean (PMAC) and the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU). It is designed to empower port managers; create a forum for exchange of best practices; facilitate dialogue and mutually beneficial collaboration between marine ports and terminals in the Caribbean region.
The upcoming PMAC-PORTSIDE Caribbean Port Management Workshop will be held in Kingston, Jamaica over three days, January 21, 22 and 23, 2019 and will be hosted by the CMU.
The Caribbean Port Management Workshop is delivered in different segments (Tracks). Four tracks are proposed for the 2019 Workshop: Climate Change; Disaster Management and Relief; Systems Engineering; and, Regional Management Initiatives.
Issues related to Climate Change, including its impacts now being experienced, will be addressed in Track 1. Presentation themes and topics are as follows:
Track 1: Climate Change: Linking society and ports in mitigating impacts from Climate Change
- Current assessments and evidence
- Meteorological Forecasts for the Caribbean
- How cities can interact with port facilities
- Port Design: Mitigating Impacts from Swales and Storms
Track 2: Disaster Management and Relief
- Risk and Impact Assessment Beyond the Port Area
- Contingency Planning and Training of Stakeholders Outside the Port Area
- Procedures to Upscale Oil Spill Disasters and Permits for Outside Assistance
- Preparing Diplomatic and Regional Channels for Outside Assistance After High-impact Disasters
Track 3: Systems Engineering
This track, being introduced in January 2019, will be delivered by the Engineering faculty of the CMU. CMU has advised that its Festo Authorized Certified and Training (FACT) Centre, which was officially launched on September 19, 2018, will be central to the delivery of this Track. Further details on Track 3 will be announced shortly.
Track 4: Regional Management Initiatives
This track will see a resumption of the discussions regarding the establishment of a region-wide inter-organizational, inter-governmental initiative, Building a Regional Disaster Assistance and Relief Network, which has as its purpose, the building of a Caribbean-wide proactive network that facilitates quick response and effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and supplies on the heels of a hurricane.
More than 70 participants from across the Caribbean region (including all four language groups) attended the inaugural event, held in Panama City, Panama, in January 2018.