Title
Estimating the Operational Impact of Container Inspections at International Ports
Abstract
A U.S. law mandating nonintrusive imaging and radiation detection for 100% of U.S.-bound containers at international ports has provoked widespread concern that the resulting congestion would hinder trade significantly. Using detailed data on container movements, gathered from two large international terminals, we simulate the impact of the two most important inspection policies that are being considered. We find that the current inspection regime being advanced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security can only handle a small percentage of the total load. An alternate inspection protocol that emphasizes screening---a rapid primary scan of all containers, followed by a more careful secondary scan of only a few containers that fail the primary test---holds promise as a feasible solution for meeting the 100% scanning requirement. This paper was accepted by Yossi Aviv, operations management.
Year
DOI
Venue
2011
10.1287/mnsc.1100.1252
Management Science
Keywords
Field
DocType
container inspections,homeland security,large international terminal,u.s. department,primary test,international port,operational impact,rapid primary,alternate inspection protocol,current inspection regime,u.s. law,important inspection policy,international ports,operations management,simulation
Homeland security,Port (computer networking),Economics,Supply chain security,Computer security
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
57
1
0025-1909
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
11
0.75
2
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Nitin Bakshi1292.78
Stephen E. Flynn2110.75
Noah Gans361366.60