ABSTRACT
After 9/11, the world as we knew it changed drastically and has been in a state of exceptionally heightened security ever since. Every time we go to a mall, train station or airport, we encounter CCTV systems, barricades, border control, antiterrorist units, (armed) police, customs forces and security officers. All are there to stop people from taking their natural course, demanding identification and enforcing their far-reaching powers on “randomly” selected individuals whose carry-on luggage as well as themselves are thoroughly inspected. The same thing happens to ships, crews, transported cargo, truckers and dockers at the port, through which approximately 80 per cent of everything we consume travels in and out, from anywhere to everywhere, every day (UNCTAD 2014). Ports are therefore vital to our global economy. Although characterised by crowdedness, loudness and busyness, ports are havens to embark at; they are places where ships’ crews can, if just for a little while, be safe from the dangers at sea (Rickman 1988: 265). Ships, cargo and those responsible for them must, like any flight passenger, endure intrusive inspections for security reasons, because any disruption in a port anywhere, at any given moment, instantly affects global trade. Ports can shut down easily, whether it is because of flooding (Chowdhury 2015), dockers on strike (Vanguard 2015), or a ‘suspicious package’ (Atkinson and Culliton 2015); the vitality and fragility of ports are challenged daily. Ports have always been seen sites of moral vulnerability, with a reputation for debauchery; they are cast as ‘centres of moral corruption and decadence’ and ‘cultural wastelands’ (Van Hooydonk 2006: 4-6), suffering from numerous crimes and insecurities, ranging from occupational hazards to port strikes, cargo and metal theft, human trafficking, drug smuggling (Degeneste and Sullivan 1996; Zaitch 2002), illegal weapons trade, corruption by ‘high-ranking coast guard officers “turn[ing] a blind eye” to the smuggling operations’ (Kostakos and Antonopoulos 2010: 51), piracy (Liss 2011) and last but not least terrorism (Chalk 2008; Christopher 2009; Woodward 2009). Any of those threats can easily lead to a port shutdown anywhere, affecting everyday life immediately and intensively. Just think about sudden price increases at local petrol stations or supermarkets. The Twin Towers attacks amplified security awareness significantly in the maritime industry. No matter what, this industry must be kept terrorist-free,
which is the main purpose of a piece of ideal-typical post-9/11 international legislation within the maritime domain: namely, the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code:
Following the tragic events of 11th September 2001, the twenty-second session of the Assembly of the International Maritime Organization (the Organization), in November 2001, unanimously agreed to the development of new measures relating to the security of ships and of port facilities for adoption by a Conference of Contracting Governments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (known as the Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Security) in December 2002.
