An exploration of shipping industry prevention of future terrorist attacks

The qualitative study, using a modified Delphi method, was conducted to investigate best practices for the shipping industry to prevent a terrorist attack. The experts were members from the Terminal Operators Ports Authority Subcommittee group, who deal with implementing government regulations in the shipping industry. The study was conducted using four rounds of questions centered on terrorism and government regulations. The experts provided responses though open-ended questions and a 5-point Likert-type scale method, which determined a consensus among the experts. The open-ended questions yielded responses that were used for the 5-point Likert-type scale questions. The analysis of data yielded a consensus of the following topics; (1) regulations changed the shipping industry's way of doing business; (2) industry and government should work together; (3) government needs a better understanding of the impact of the regulations; (4) and a terrorist attack cannot be prevented 100%. Shipping industry business leaders are provided with best practices to prevent terrorist attacks. The best practices recommended are; (1) Incorporate government regulations into existing procedure using a implementation model; (2) Shipping industry and government leaders should work together to develop standards; (3) Shipping industry leaders should work together; (4) Reduce the cost of the implementation and maintenance of regulations.