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Despite the rise in global attention to port managers' actions on climate change, they still face considerable challenges in reaching collective agreements on proactive policies and hands-on actions. Considering the influence of port as the middle-man of global trade and development, this study undertakes semantic, co-authorship, and geographic coverage analyses of major articles on port climate change adaptation to shed light on the evolution of research over last fifteen years. With semantic analyses, we extract material words and expressions of identified articles, based on their title and keywords, and discuss when they have been taken into consideration and how they have been jointly studied. Also, co-authorship analysis shows the formation and expansion of research communities. Finally, geographic coverage of research and geographic distribution of researchers explain to what extent this subject has been explored and knowledge has been disseminated around the globe. We hereby suggest that future research should claim adaptation leadership by a quick paradigm shift , to support timely decisions. It is time to move ahead, focusing more on adaptation actions and approaches to bridge adaptation gaps. • Research should take a leap from the inception stage to the implementation stage. • Enjoying the network-thinking outlook, research should support balanced horizontal and vertical preparation. • Knowoledgde incubation and mobilization should be strengthened through diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long term impact posed by climate change risk remains unclear and is subject to diverse interpretations from different maritime stakeholders. The inter-dynamics between climate change and ports can also significantly diversify in different geographical regions. Consequently, risk and cost data used to support climate adaptation is of high uncertainty and in many occasions, real data is often unavailable and incomplete. This paper presents a risk and cost evaluation methodology that can be applied to the analysis of port climate change adaptation measures in situations where data uncertainty is high. Risk and cost criteria are used in a decision-making model for the selection of climate adaptation measures. Information produced using a fuzzy-Bayesian risk analysis approach is utilized to evaluate risk reduction outcomes from the use of adaptation measures in ports. An evidential reasoning approach is then employed to synthesize the risk reduction data as inputs to the decision-making model. The results can assist policymakers in developing efficient adaptation measures that take into account the reduction in the likelihood of risks, their possible consequences, their timeframe, and costs incurred. A technical study across 14 major container ports in Greater China is presented to demonstrate the interaction between cost and risk analysis, and to highlight the applicability of the stated methodology in practice. The paper offers a useful analytical tool for assessing climate change risks to ports and selecting the most cost-effective adaptation measures in uncertain conditions. It can also be used to compare the practitioners’ perceptions of climate risks across different geographical regions, and to evaluate improvements after implementation of the selected adaptation measures with potential budgetary constraints. The methodology, together with the illustrative cases, provides important insights on how to develop efficient climate change adaptation measures in a supply chain context to improve the sustainability of development and enhance adaptation measures for ports, port cities, intermodal transport, supply chains, and urban and regional planning in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective adaptation to climate change impacts is rapidly becoming an important research topic. Hitherto, the perceptions and attitudes of stakeholders on climate adaptation actions are under researched, partly due to the emphasis on physical and engineering aspects during the adaptation planning process. Building on such considerations, the paper explores the perceptions of port decision makers on the effectiveness of climate adaptation actions. The findings suggest that while port decision makers are aware of potential climate change impacts and feel that more adaptation actions should be undertaken, they are skeptical about their effectiveness and value. This is complemented by a regional analysis on the results, suggesting that more tailor-made adaptation measures suited to local circumstances should be developed. The study illustrates the complexity of climate adaptation planning and of involving port decision makers under the current planning paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Being nodal points along supply chains, ports affected by climate change would create substantial costs to the global economy and welfare, and thus it is extremely important to ensure that ports can develop effective adaptation strategies. However, there are many uncertainties, as the dynamics between climate change and ports can diversify between different regions. Against this background, through exploratory case studies of four ports in Australia, this paper investigates climate change and the adaptation strategies of ports, with a special focus on port infrastructures and the day-to-day operational impacts. Research findings indicate that, while port managers recognize climate change as an issue which requires closer attention, adaptation strategies have remained segregated and piecemeal. This highlights the fact that effective adaptation solutions are not just about physical layouts and engineering projects, but the need to fundamentally transform the current management and planning practices of ports. It is a timely reminder to port policymakers and managers on the need to refine how effective decisions should be made for the challenges posed by climate changes in the future. In this regard, further research on this topic is urgently required. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The paper develops a Bayesian-based model to capture and estimate the socio-economic impacts associated with a potential oil spill caused by Arctic shipping. • SEMA (Socio-Economic Impact Model for the Arctic) is illustrated through a hypothetical case and scenario analysis. • SEMA is useful for contingency planning and response efforts in the Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located along shorelines, seaports are highly vulnerable to coastal and marine natural disasters largely due to climate change. Damage caused by disasters can be prevented or alleviated if sufficient investments are made in a timely manner. However, despite a wide range of investment options and well-developed engineering expertise, port investment on disaster prevention remains a challenging task involving great complexities. This paper develops an integrated economic model for the analysis of disaster-prevention investments at a “landlord” port. It simultaneously considers the uncertainty of disaster occurrence and associated return of prevention investments, the information accumulation and related investment timing, and the benefit spillovers of investment among stakeholders. Our analysis shows that the timing of port investments depends on the probability of disasters. Immediate investment is optimal for disasters with very high probability, while investment should be postponed if such a probability is very low. Optimal timing for cases of intermediate probability cannot be determined analytically, as it is influenced by other factors such as discount rate, information accumulation and efficiency of investments. Positive spillovers between a port and its tenants lead to under-investment, which can be corrected by coordination between stakeholders. However, since there are risks of “overinvestment” (the marginal benefits of investments are zero ex post if there is no disaster), regulatory intervention is not always optimal when the regulator does not have a good understanding of disaster probability distribution. Therefore, scientific research would bring significant economic and strategic value to policy, planning and investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• First study to quantitatively compare climate change mitigation and adaptation for two ports. • Three market relationships are considered, i.e., independent, strategic substitute, strategic complement. • Both mitigation and adaptation increase the executing port's output. • Adaption decreases the other port's output if the two ports are independent or strategic substitutes. • A numerical case study on four Chinese ports based on the model is implemented. The two major approaches that seaport operators adopt to address climate change impacts are mitigation (CCM), i.e., reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adaptation (CCA), i.e., adjusting the facility to moderate the negative outcomes of climate change. This paper is among the first to construct an economic model to compare the impacts of CCM and CCA in affecting the outputs of the executing port and the other ports in its network, considering the effects of market interactions. We find that both strategies can increase the executing port's cargo traffic, and can either increase or decrease the other port's cargo traffic depending on the market relationships between the ports. We also implement a numerical case study on four Chinese ports (Ports of Shenzhen, Xiamen, Tianjin and Hong Kong) based on our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]