Maritime Security

Protection of Marinas, Ports, Small Watercraft, Yachts, and Ships

Ph.D, Daniel J. Benny

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781498777476
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencia de la computación
• Subtopic: Ciberseguridad

In a time when threats against the maritime community have never been greater, Maritime Security: Protection of Marinas, Ports, Small Watercraft, Yachts, and Ships provides a single, comprehensive source of necessary information for understanding and preventing or reducing threats to the maritime community.The book defines what comprises the mariti

Chapter 1

Maritime Community

The maritime community comprises many entities to include marinas, ports, and watercraft. The watercraft include small pleasure craft, yachts, and commercial and military ships.

The maritime domain serves as a critical waterway highway for the global economy. This environment presents unique security challenges encompassing vast oceans, coastal and inland waterways, commercial shipping lanes, and countless ports of entry. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the United States has 95,000 miles of coastline, 361 ports, including 8 of the world’s 50 highest-volume ports and 10,000 miles of navigable waterways.

The United States has the world’s largest exclusive economic zone covering 3.4 million square miles of water. This area contains some of the most productive and valuable natural resources on the globe. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that 30% of all U.S. oil supplies and 25% of all natural gas supplies are being produced in offshore areas.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, 700 ships arrive in U.S. ports daily and 8,000 foreign-flag ships manned by 200,000 foreign mariners enter U.S. ports each year. In addition to commercial shipping, there are millions of recreational boaters who use the waterways and ports. The recreational boating industry in the United States exceeds $38 billion annually.

Marinas

Marinas are waterfront facilities such as a dock or a port with moorings and often provide supplies to facilitate small watercraft and yachts. Marinas can be located on the coast, on intracoastal waterways, and on rivers, canals, and lakes (see Figure 1.1). An identifiable feature of a marina is that they are not used for commercial shipping and operations.

FIGURE 1.1 Docking area on a canal near Glasgow, Scotland.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

Marinas allow small pleasure watercraft and yachts the ability to be moored at docks or on mooring buoys (see Figures 1.2 and 1.3). Ramps are also provided to launch small watercraft from trailers, and designated areas for the trailers are provided close by on the shore (see Figure 1.4).

FIGURE 1.2 Docks at Tri-County Boat Club, Middletown, Pennsylvania.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

FIGURE 1.3 Sailboat secured to a mooring buoy at Long Level Marina in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

FIGURE 1.4 The author’s Boston Whaler in the trailer storage area at Long Level Marina, Wrightsville, Pennsylvania.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

Based on the size and capabilities of the marina, various services may be offered to the maritime community. These services may include fueling, repair and sale of boats and engines, a boat supply shop, food service, pubs, restrooms, electrical power to watercraft, and watercraft waste pumping stations. Some marinas also provide clubhouse amenities such as showers, locker areas, and meeting and training rooms.

Ports and Port Facilities

A port and port facility is a site located on a coastal waterway, a river, or a lake, which has a harbor, dock, and associated operational facilities such as administration, work, or storage buildings. The port and port facility provide one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to, or from, land. The port facility may vary widely and can extend for miles. Such ports and port facilities can have an enormous positive impact on the local economy, the national transportation system, as well as national security and defense.

Port and port facilities are selected based on location in order to optimize access to navigable water and land transportation, such as trucking, rail, and aviation for commercial operations, as well as military shipping. A port also provides shelter from wind and waves for all vessels seeking safe harbor. The type of shipping a port and port facility can handle depends on the depth of the water. Deep water ports can handle larger, more economical, and military ships (see Figure 1.5).

FIGURE 1.5 The Port of Edinburgh, Scotland.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

There are different types of ports based on the use and type of shipping and operations that occur. Ports located on coastal waters, coastal ports or inland rivers and lakes, and inland ports that can be navigated by ships can be used for cruise ships, fishing, cargo, and military operations (see Figures 1.6 through 1.9).

FIGURE 1.6 Inland Port Albert Dock on the Mersey River, Liverpool, England.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

FIGURE 1.7 Fishing docks at the Port of San Diego, California.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

FIGURE 1.8 Fishing docks at the Port of San Francisco, California.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

FIGURE 1.9 Lobster boats in Rockport, Maine.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

Some ports are used for the placement of historic ships and museums as national landmarks and for tourism (see Figure 1.10).

FIGURE 1.10 The historic USS Constellation at the Baltimore Inner Harbor, Maryland.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

Small Watercraft

Small watercraft come in a wide range of sizes and a variety of types and models based on the specific needs of the boater. Small watercraft are equipped with various types of propulsion. The most common is the outboard motor, which is attached to the transom of the watercraft with the lower unit and propeller in the water. As the lower unit turns by the use of a hand tiller or steering wheel, it turns the watercraft and moves through the water by the force of the propeller in the water. An inboard outboard is an engine that is inserted into the hull of the watercraft with a lower unit and propeller extending into the water, which operates as an outboard motor. The inboard motor is inserted into the hull of the watercraft with a shaft and propeller extending through the bottom of the hull into the water. The motor turns the propeller to move the watercraft and a rudder behind the propeller allows the watercraft to be turned (see Figure 1.11).

FIGURE 1.11 Outboard engine, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

A jet engine is one that has an intake for the water to enter the motor and then to expel it out behind the watercraft using the force of the water to move the watercraft. A jet motor can be an outboard, inboard outboard, or an inboard, and is steered in the same manner.

Small watercraft have two basic hull designs: a displacement and planing hull. The displacement hull is designed to ride low in the water and move or displace the water as the watercraft moves through the water. This includes sailboats, kayaks, canoes, cruisers, pontoons, houseboats, tour boats, and small cabin cruisers (see Figures 1.12 through 1.15).

FIGURE 1.12 Sailboats in the marina at Conwy, Wales.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

FIGURE 1.13 Kayaks and a canoe on the Susquehanna River, Wrightsville, Pennsylvania.

(Photograph by Daniel J. Benny.)

FIGURE 1.14 Houseboat o...