ABSTRACT
Introduction About 90 percent of the world’s trade by volume moves by sea and this volume may double over the next fi ft een years. Seaborne trade is potentially vulnerable to terrorist attack due to the quantity of cargo involved, its diverse and large international labor force, diffi culties of enforcement both in port and at sea, and the poor regulatory environment of international shipping with low levels of accountability, complicated chains of ownership, and a high incidence of fraudulent documentation. Terrorists could potentially exploit these weaknesses to use sea transport for evil purposes, or to launch an attack on shipping and port infrastructure that could cause massive economic disruption.
