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Climate change poses a potential risk to coastal infrastructure, thus threatening the economics or even the safety of human beings. Thus, a better understanding of the attitude of port organizations toward climate adaptation and mitigation is essential. This paper addresses this research gap by investigating 18 port organizations in China. The questions include the impediments and the impact of context, systems, and other factors on the implementation of adaptation strategies. The results indicate that port organizations are generally aware of climate change impacts and agree that some further steps are needed. However, policy support serves as a key factor in implementing adaptation plans. Apart from offering important insight on the attitude of port organizations, the study also serves as a platform for further research on climate adaptation planning in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate-related extreme events such as Hurricane Katrina (2005) or Maria (2017); Superstorm Sandy (2012), extreme precipitation or heat waves have directly hit many ports around the world in recent years. Ports are becoming increasingly aware of the risks of climate change, partly because of these events. However, very few are taking adaptation into practice, often due to the lack of information and the high uncertainties associated with climate change. This paper presents a multi-level methodology for conducting climate change risk assessment in existing ports following a sequential path that starts with a quantitative analysis focused on multi-hazard and multi-impact evaluation with climate information based on indicators. If needed the first level will be combined with a qualitative analysis based on perceived risk of stakeholders in order to determine the necessity of carrying out a high-resolution analysis, increasing the quantity, quality and resolution of input data, climate information and impact modelling aiming at reducing uncertainties. Results provide port managers with essential information to identify hot spots and prioritize adaptation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Five cases of ports in Japan and Indonesia that have subsided by a metre or more were analysed. The findings suggest that there are no unsurmountable technological, cost-benefit, financial and social limits to the progressive raising of these ports, at least for the magnitude of climate-induced sea-level rise expected during the 21st century. In Indonesia observed adaptation is a sequential process: only part of the port is raised at one time, allowing port operations to continue elsewhere and spreading costs in time. Jumps in unit costs are apparent as the elevation height increases. In addition, the possibility of sea-level rise triggering innovative changes in port design to lower costs (e.g., a move to floating ports) is being considered. For traditional ports to upgrade by up to 1 metre, unit costs are found to be somewhere between 50–360 USD/m3 rise (not including the cost of piling). Nevertheless, such adaptation costs would represent a significant burden and adaptation is often reactive rather than proactive, leading to significant damage costs, as in the case of Hurricane Katrina's impact on Gulf Coast Ports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]