Experts say Australia’s ports could bear the brunt of a changing climate. 

A global analysis of ports suggests that over 86 per cent are exposed to more than three natural hazards each year, with damage from natural hazards estimated to cost over US$7.5 billion worldwide per year. 

The study from Oxford University finds that northern Australian ports are most at risk from tropical cyclones and southern Australian ports are more likely to see infrastructure damage from intense rainfall.

Damage to ports also leads to costly trade disruptions which are most likely to impact small island nations such as Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The authors considered direct damage to the ports as well as disruption to port activities caused by destruction to infrastructure within one kilometre of the port such as roads, railways, and electricity cables. 

When considering the direct damage to ports as well as damage to surrounding infrastructure, the estimated cost of damage is US$7.5 billion per year. In addition, the downtime associated with reconstruction and time that ports are inoperable can put trade worth US$63.1 billion at risk each year.

The authors found that 94 per cent (1,260 ports) of ports in their analysis were exposed to at least one natural hazard and that 86.2 per cent (1,155 ports) of ports globally are exposed to more than 3 hazards each year. 

The full study is accessible here.