The main research question of this project is:

How should we able to engineer resilience into maritime logistics chains, meeting the risk and vulnerability taxonomies of the context, and finally be able to analyse and manage the vulnerability and risk scenarios in a proactive manner?

Thereby meeting three additional research questions:

• Do we understand the sources and mechanisms of the vulnerabilities and risks in maritime logistics chains in its widest sense?
• Do we have the ability to analyse vulnerability and risk scenarios and the likelihood and consequences of these scenarios in the maritime logistics chain?
• Do we possess the appropriate measures, capacities (e.g. assured financial coverage) and the ability to manage and mitigate vulnerabilities and risks in the extended maritime logistics contexts?

Being able to answer ‘yes’ to this set of questions would mean that we are able to design, develop and operate maritime logistics chains that possess resilient capacities and capabilities. If the answer is negative there is a serious gap in the knowledge needed to be able to exploit the new opportunity space this development generates without an equivalent increase in the risk and vulnerability space.