Traditionally, freight terminals have been dangerous workplaces. In the freight industry, security concerns have been directed into two areas: worker safety and theft. Access is monitored and controlled, and movements are channeled along pathways that provide safe access to and from platforms and gates. Because railway stations and airports are some of the most densely populated sites anywhere, crowd control and safety have been issues that have preoccupied managers for a long time. In addition, threats to health, such as the spread of pandemics, present significant challenges to transport planning and operations, as the Covid-19 pandemic underlined.Īs locations where passengers and freight are assembled and dispersed, terminals have particularly been a focus of concern about security and safety. Still, the tragic events of 9/11 thrust the issue of physical security into the public domain as never before and set in motion responses that have reshaped transportation in unforeseen ways. Concerns were already being raised in the past.
In this context, transportation is mostly a vector for illicit transactions. Criminal activities are seeking an economic return from illegal transactions such as drugs, weapons, piracy, and illegal immigration.
In this context, transportation is mostly a target. Terrorism is a symbolic activity seeking forms of destruction and disruption to coerce a political, ideological, or religious agenda. While both seek to exploit the security weaknesses of transportation, they do so for very different reasons. Over this, an important nuance must be provided between criminal activities and terrorism. While issues of safety and security have regularly preoccupied transport planners and managers, it is only recently that physical security has become an overriding issue. Safety and security issues concern both transportation modes and terminals that can be either a target for terrorism, a vector to conduct illegal activities, and even a form of warfare.
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