Business contingency and continuity plan by maritime firms in Singapore - part B: maritime services sector

• Main Author: Matin Ahmad Bin Kamal
• Other Authors: -
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Business::Operations management::Risk management; Engineering::Maritime studies::Maritime management and business
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163718
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Business Continuity Management (BCM) has evolved dramatically since its conception in the 1970s due to disruptions and megatrends like pandemics, globalisation, and digitalisation, in addition to rule-based measures and governance in its approach. Today, the BCM is designed to tackle conventional threats and has grown to enculturate aspects of business management concepts like risk assessment and remediation to avoid, resolve or mitigate risks. The unprecedented surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in the late-2019 has catalysed a rapid economic collapse, affecting every player, big and small, in the maritime industry, spelling disasters in the supply chain. Companies have scrambled to activate and review their Business Contingency and Continuity Management Plans (BCCPs) to mitigate risks and protect their interests. Although there is an increased emphasis on BCCP since the plight of COVID-19 in Singapore, there is still insufficient observation concerning its effectiveness and constraints during its implementation and execution for different sectors in the maritime industry. The maritime services sector currently faces a low uptake of BCCP. Maritime services companies face many hurdles in their application, mainly resource constraints, risk culture and the inability to predict future events. The sector is also vulnerable to disruptions, like pandemics and cyber-attacks. It risks facing impacts such as lethargy, an overworked workforce, and miscommunication within the company and between stakeholders. The paper will use interviews as case studies on how maritime services companies have stayed resilient and pivoted during crises like the pandemic. The paper will also propose several recommendations to bridge the gaps and challenges of BCCP implementation to ensure business resiliency during disruptions and megatrends.