A review of models for transport security and of their relevance for supply chains

Security represents one of the most important challenges for the global supply chains that characterise our globalised economic systems. The occurrence of (lack of) security related events has raised the attention of practitioners, governments and scholars. The aim of this paper is twofold. It first wants to propose a review of the models that concern transport security and to highlight that some of them refer to the prevention (regime models, proactive models and participation models) while others attain the efficient and effective reaction and the minimisation of the consequences of security related episodes (barrier models, preparedness models and reactive models). The presentation of the models is complemented by a comparative analysis that will draw some general remarks on the main common topics that emerge in the previous description and highlights the ever-increasing role of coordination and communication among stakeholders for the enhancement of transport security. The second objective of the paper lies in the subsumption of transport security in general Supply Chains. In order to reach this goal, the points of vulnerability and risk factors of the supply chain are considered. This analysis is then extended to a discussion of the main supply chain security practices and activities and of the relevant role played by the transport security models. The review allows to draw several conclusions. A sound security strategy is based on preparation and planning, alongside effective partnerships, structural and managerial adaptation and dedicated communications and technologies both in a static and in a dynamic perspective. Moreover, security strategies need to consider the trade-offs with privacy and with efficiency issues. Security efforts should be concentrated on the preeminent infrastructures, nodal points and arcs according to their degree of weakness and to their centrality in the supply chain. It is also important to plan a set of incentives for the firms that contribute to the security investments and of penalties for those who adopt a free-riding behaviour. Lastly, it is relevant to assess which share of security activities can be accomplished internally and the ones that have to be outsourced to security specialised firms.