Introduction
Whether it be a natural disaster, or other human-made humanitarian contingencies, preparing for response to disasters in advance is critical to mitigating all possible issues that may arise. As stated by the International Federation of Red Cross, humanitarian logistics “comprises acquiring and delivering requested supplies and services, at the places and times they are needed, while ensuring best value for money.” In the immediate aftermath of any disaster, these supplies include items that are vital for survival, such as food, water, temporary shelter and medicine among others (IFRC). The Philippines, China, Japan and Bangladesh are the most common places in the world for natural disasters such as storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, wildfires, and landslides, among other calamities (MNN, 2015).
Major disaster relief efforts require the movement of many goods and people in order to provide relief for those affected. Empowered by United Nations General Assembly Motion 46/182, the Inter-Agency Standing Committee formed the Logistics Cluster in 2005 (“Logistics Cluster,” 2017, “Welcome to the IASC,” n.d.). The Logistics Cluster is hosted by the World Food Programme (WFP) and ensures “strategic coordination, information management and facilitation of common logistics services by road, air, and sea” (“Logistics Cluster,” 2017). The Logistics Cluster is, in effect, the primary coordination tool for disaster relief worldwide.
Since the Logistics Cluster was formed, the number of natural disasters across the world has increased by 75% from approximately 400 disasters in 2005 to 700 in 2016 (The Data Team, 2017). Natural disasters are only one type of disaster with which the Logistics Cluster will assist. Given this, there will continue to be a growing demand for disaster relief, worldwide. This demand, however, can only be met by an increased supply of logistics providers who offer their talent and resources. Thus, this paper will take the position that UN member state governments should, in the event of a world disaster being aided by their particular state, require by law that the top ten largest logistics firms in that state make available all non-essential logistics capacity to the relief effort so long as the firm is fairly compensated by the United Nations, local government, or other worldwide aid agency, should they choose to accept compensation. This paper will begin by discussing the United Nation’s stance and applicable regulations. It will then move on to discuss applicable laws in other countries. Next, major challenges and critical success factors in humanitarian logistics will be examined, followed by a review of the stages of humanitarian aid response and engagement from service providers. Finally, this paper will examine three case studies related to the issue. Through a broad investigation of academic literature and associated government reports, the project will highlight significant challenges and critical factors that contribute to the success of humanitarian logistic management.
United Nations Stance and Regulations
There are currently no laws governing the participation of logistics companies in the Logistics Cluster, by United Nations Member States, nor the United Nations itself. Currently, several international logistics companies work with the Logistics Cluster. Some examples include Maersk, UPS, and TNT Express (Abidi, H., Leeuw, S. D., & Klumpp, M. (2015). While this accounts for a few dominant industry players, there are many other logistics companies within each UN Member state who are quite sizable. The 10th largest logistics company in the USA, for example, has revenues of $1.49 Billion annually (“Top 50 Logistics”, 2017). Together, the top 10 firms have revenues of over $23.5 Billion, and this is just one UN Member state. Laws requiring the assistance of the top 10 logistics companies in each UN Member State would ensure adequate resources are always available to the Logistics Cluster in the event of a disaster.
Major Challenges and Critical Success Factors
Humanitarian logistics deals with both isolated disasters and disasters which may occur simultaneously (Kovacs & Spense, 2009). While some disasters, such as hurricanes and flooding can often be anticipated, most disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and terrorist attacks strike without prediction. The inconsistency and unpredictability of these events frequently result in a lack of resources in terms of supply, people, technology, transportation capacity and money (Kovacs & Spense, 2009). Even once these resources are accumulated, there is considerable difficulty in coordinating efficient distribution in a timely and cost sensitive manner.
The first key success factor of humanitarian logistics is effective pre-disaster policy planning. Logisticians and rescue agencies can use tools such as fuzzy logic and the queuing theory to prepare for hypothetical situations. Fuzzy logic is a mathematical method intended to model logical reasoning with vague or imprecise statements (Petr et. al., 2016). It allows multiple scenarios to be simulated while attributing likelihoods of various events. The queuing theory is also a mathematical method, and uses constructed models to predict queue lengths and wait times. The results are often used when making business decisions about the resources needed to provide a service (Masek et. al, 2015). Use of these theories, along with others, assist in the planning and execution of resource allocation after a disaster.
The second key success factor in mitigating these challenges is network design and vehicle routing. Network design includes defining the routes and allocating the available resources while vehicle routing aims to find the shortest time path between origin and destination. Vehicle routing in emergency situations differs from classic routing in that it values travel time over costs (Safeer et al. 2014).
The third crucial factor contributes to humanitarian aid success is location allocation. Location-allocation refers to selecting facilities and allocating available resources and tasks. Successful allocation plans facilitate the distribution flow of the material supply, such as food, medicines, and shelters.
Different Stages of Humanitarian Logistics
Nature of disasters varies significantly across different continents in the world; however, four common phases: mitigation, preparation, response, and reconstruction, constitute the whole disaster management cycle in humanitarian logistics which deals with different kinds of natural or human-made disasters (Cozzolino, 2012, p.8). Multiple parties play their respective roles in different disaster management phases. Government authorities take the lead in the mitigation phase to determine the framework of laws which regulate humanitarian assistance (Cozzolino, 2012, p.8). Logistic service providers, on the other hand, acting as a strategic partner in the disaster response phase of any humanitarian aid. Across all four stages of the disaster management cycle, material and information flows are the two most crucial components.
Managing Information Flow in the Mitigation Phase
Information infrastructure. During the mitigation and the preparation phases, it is essential for Government authorities and responsible humanitarian organizations to establish dedicated information infrastructure and communication emergency system. Meanwhile, they have to incorporate advanced technology, such as Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS), into existing information facility for maintaining a constant and timely communication with the people in the disaster-affected territory (Ergun et al., 2016, p. 33).
Communication protocols. Likewise, setting up stable communication protocols between primary parties involved in the aid process can smooth information transfer between partners and therefore enhance an efficient collaboration among organizations. Among all the crucial participants, the host country’s government authorities should take the lead for sourcing resources, coordinating inter-organizational communication to facilitate long-term partnerships among critical parties (Ergun et al., 2016, p. 33).
Since Logistic companies play crucial roles in the disaster response phase, during the mitigation phase, it is vital for the government authorities to evaluate available resources, select and nominate responsible logistic service providers to ensure a proper service supply in the disaster relief stage.
Strategic Hub Location in the Preparation Phase
One overarching objective of the disaster response phase is to maximize the delivery coverage of emergency supplies, ensure the relief supplies reach a highest possible number of beneficiaries (Cozzolino, 2012, p.9). It is a challenging task for both the humanitarian and commercial logistic service providers who participate in humanitarian relief assistance. To achieve a desirable goal, the location selection for strategic hubs, such as shelters, distribution centers, warehouses, and medical centers, should be a prioritized calendar during the preparation phase. Critical factors contribute to hub location optimization are the degree of risk certainty, the magnitude of risk implication, disaster duration estimates, the preferred density of hubs, service mode, and type of emergency supplies (Boonmee, Arimura, and Asada, 2017, p.487). Depending upon different functions of strategic facilities, customized location positioning strategies are required.
Hub positioning rules. The general positioning rule of functional hubs considers the balancing of three critical factors: number of facilities, cost of transport, and length of the transport route. For general locations, such as distribution centers and inventory warehouse, the optimal solution is to maximize the number of facilities while minimizing total transportation cost and distance. Location selection of hospitals, fire stations, and shelter sites, on the other hand, aims to ensure an exhausted coverage of all demand points across the affected areas but limit transport expenditure and the number of facilities. The deployment rule of recycling sites, quite differently, is to locate the centers far away from the affected areas, aiming to efficiently control environmental pollution (Boonmee et al., 2017, p.487-489).
Gradually, third-party logistics service providers have evolved their role from transportation service providers to integrated logistics service providers. They take charge of warehousing, inventory management, and technological support in logistic-related supply chain activities (Zacharia et al., 2011, p.43). Given this, in the disaster preparation stage, it would be wise for the government authorities and the NGOs to involving professional third-party logistics service providers in the decision-making process of the hub selection, take full advantage of their professional experiences for optimizing the solution. If necessary, the government authorities and the NGOs should require the nominated logistic service provider to obtain a certain amount of essential material supplies during the disaster preparation stage, pre-positioning to their existing distribution centers or warehouses which set closer to the disaster-intensive regions as a contingency material stock.
Risk Response Strategy in the Response Phase
Risk management is the core of the response phase, two primary goals of which are immediate disaster reaction and sufficient replenishment of goods and service supply (Cozzolino, 2012, p.9). Three noteworthy aspects that constitute the risk response strategy are rescued participants collaboration, donation and supply stream, and the collective actions of critical parties during the crucial period of rescue, usually the first 72 hours after a disaster happens (Cozzolino, 2012, p.9).
Logistics service providers play a crucial role in the response phase. During this specific stage, they are in charge of some specialized tasks. They provide transportation resources and capacity (Salisbury, 2007 in Balcik and Beamon, 2008, p. 108), distribute supplies (Asante-Mensah, 2007 in Kovács and Spens, 2009, p. 518), facilitate best logistics practices (Cozzolino et al., 2012, p. 23), coordinate activities between principal parties, and integrate the whole supply chain (Vega and Roussat, 2015, p.364). Detailed activities can involve providing truck fleet for inland delivery, managing fleet operation, coordinating custom clearance procedures of cross-broad material transport, distributing and warehousing material supplies, coordinating communication between principal parties, and managing the whole supply chain
Cost Reduction in the Reconstruction Phase
The primary goal of the reconstruction phase is to reverse the long-term negative impact of the disaster. There is a shift of focus from timeliness and flexibility to cost-effectiveness during this particular period (Cozzolino, 2012, p.10). The key to achieving the strategic objective during this stage is to implement lean management principles (Cozzolino, 2012, p.11), the guiding principle of which is to eliminate non-value-added processes (Childerhouse and Towill, 2000, p.338). During the reconstruction phase, the ultimate purpose is to expand and sustain the positive influence of rescue operations in a cost-efficient manner. In other words, key parties of the humanitarian aid strive to serve a broader population across the disaster-affected areas within the given budget domain (Cozzolino, 2012, p.11).
This relatively stable stage emphasizes a long-term disaster alleviation. The primary function of the specialized logistic service providers in this phase is to act on behalf of the Government authorities and NGOs, integrating and managing the whole supply chain of humanitarian assistance (Vega and Roussat, 2015, p.364) to maintain a stable stream of material and information supply.
Examination of Case Studies
2017 British Columbia Wildfires: A Case within North America
In 2017, B.C Wildfire Service confirms that B.C. has the worst wildfire season on record. An estimated 894,941 hectares of land has been charred within the province since the April 2017. The government spent $315.7 million by the September 2017 and more than 45,000 people were lost their homes and evacuated (Ghoussoub, 2017). With over 375 wildfires across the British Columbia caused the timber supply chains to shut down, the impact of the shutdowns transferred to the rose price of lumber (increased 7% since the week of July 18th, 2017), and unstable situation of the whole North America’s lumber market. Another significant influence is the safety and emergency evacuation of local residents. Because of the wildfires are wind-driven (unpredicted) and firefighters are hard to control large areas, the capacity challenges of evacuation sites are rose by the reality.
Humanitarian logistics, in this case, are needed in a variety of situations, but mainly in two aspects. Firstly, providing better supply chain management of the resources’ transportation that is necessary for the shelters and forest-dependent communities. Secondly, helping the local communities to determine the best evacuation route and identifying the risks. Since the prediction of natural disasters is impossible, the outcomes from humanitarian logistic organizations are always passive, and this may cause adverse effect on the efficiency of the private sectors. In the meanwhile, the expenditures of wildfire management across Canada rose by about $120 million per decade regards on protecting forest-dependent communities, timber and other resources from wildland fires (Natural Resources Canada, 2017).
The South African food Crisis in 2002: A Case outside North America
The African nation of Malawi declared the emergency states in February 2002, because of the worst crop failure in the recent 50 years. In the April, Lesotho and Zimbabwe declared the same emergency and put the international community on red alert. The result of which caused the worst food crisis in southern Africa in that decade (Wassenhove, 2006, p.479).
There were four main issues and factors identified by Humanitarian logisticians. Firstly, the Political issue, the local government was mismanaged in the reserves, and the NGO’s engagement was slow by waiting for the government’s approval. Secondly, the economic issue, a local economic downturn led to a low purchasing power and currency devaluation, therefore, insufficient local resources. Thirdly, the demographic factor, due to the high HIV infection rate and a scattered population, it is hard to mobilize local labor force. Lastly, the environmental factor, erratic regional weather pattern made the situation more complicated and increased the difficulty of supply chain management (Wassenhove, 2006, p.479).
The WFP quickly set the assessing needs and action plans in the local area. Since US, a prominent donor to the WFP, made no distinction between conventional and genetically modified food, this arose food refused by many African countries with respect to GMO contamination (Local economies are very dependent on Non-GM produces). Then WFP stuck in the situation that they have stockpiles of food in transition, waiting in the harbors, and also storage in warehouses. They had to deal with the additional cost of replacing the GM food to Non-GM food, and the delay of the new food supplies which could last up to a month (Wassenhove, 2006, p.479).
Instead of the replacing massive amount of goods, the WFP decided to mill the GM food and add vitamins (helps people weakened by HIV) to reproduce them as the new food supply. They found some idle local mills, created employment and also encouraged the domestic purchasing power (Wassenhove, 2006, p.479). This decision turned the situation into positive and maintains WFP’s action impartially.
Haiti Earthquake: Where Aid Failed
On January 12, 2010, the island nation of Haiti was hit with a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that leftover 500,000 casualties and over 1.5 million people displaced (CNN, 2013). Many roads throughout the country were left impassable, and the main port in Port-au-Prince was closed due to a severe damage to the docks and equipment (BBC, 2010).
As stated by Mimi Sheller, “Haiti’s post-earthquake mobility systems – including cratered, rubble-strewn roads and patched-up runways, radio transmitters and satellite dishes, airport terminals and docks, oil pipelines and internet connections, motorcycles and Tap-Tap buses, shipping containers and cell phones – together perform ongoing re-arrangements of place and scale as they make and break connections between people and places” (Sage 2012). This caused communication and transportation interruption, an additional barrier which the help and support teams had to overcome.
Planes were able to land but had to spend a long time on the runway waiting to unload. There was a shortage of trucks that can deliver the supplies from the planes. Roads were destroyed, and this caused backup, many flights had to wait to arrive with supplies. Before the earthquake, Haiti lacked clean drinking water, after the disaster, things became a lot more worse. There was a cholera outbreak killing over 2500 people and having 75,000 different cases. The NGO’s were not provided the technical support from the UN. Health clusters were only able to provide some basic information and a few concrete results during this fast-paced outbreak. (The Guardian, 2010)
As Mimi Sheller from Drexel University states, “through an analysis of the uneven network capital expended as humanitarian mobility into post-earthquake Port-au-Prince it is shown how post-disaster logistics simultaneously produce disconnections, limit capabilities for mobility, and introduce what is theorized as an ‘islanding effect’ on the victims of the disaster” (Sage, 2012). Because of the failed logistics processes, lack of supplies and resources to the victims, disaster continued, as a result of an unorganized rescue response.
Conclusion
With the rapid increase in the number of natural disasters, humanitarian logistics plays an increasingly important role in responding to such catastrophic events. Our view is that UN member state governments should, in the event of a disaster, require by law that the top ten largest logistics firms in that state make available all non-essential logistics capacity to the relief effort so long as the firm is fairly compensated by the United Nations, local government, or other worldwide aid agency, should they choose to accept compensation. This new system regulated by the UN will bring effective, efficient and life-saving processes that will help keep such catastrophes under control in the best fashion. Through our analysis of the United Nations, major challenges and critical success factors, different stages of humanitarian logistics, and case studies, we have concluded that our strategy would be the best and most efficient technique to tackle the world’s ongoing and increasing natural and human-made disasters.