ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the impact of climate change on Australian ports and their supply chains by conducting a case study of major coal port and its supply chain. Australia experiences a variety of climatic zones due to its size, including equatorial, tropical, subtropical, desert, grassland and temperate. With such diversity, understanding the impact of climate variability and change on Australia's water resources, agricultural production, coastal communities and natural ecosystems presents a multi-levelled challenge because adaptation strategies in one region may not apply to another. In Australia, the climate risks of greatest concern appear to be rising sea levels, extreme rainfall and wind, increasing intensity of cyclones and tropical storms, and higher temperatures. Although most ports' concerns about climate change are centred on vulnerability of port infrastructure and operations to rising sea levels and extreme weather events, it appears from the above studies that port management has started looking at climate-change impact on freight system through the port.
