Implementation and Compliance of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code in Mexico: A literature Review and Selected Issues

This paper provides a literature review of the state of the art on implementation and compliance of the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code), for the case of Mexico. This investigation was initially oriented solely towards Mexico, but due to the absence of research within this subject for the referred country the review had to be done through subcategories with the conditional connection of Mexico and relevant issues were selected. The primary data confirmed the absence of research within this subject in Mexico. The secondary data, were other words related to the ISPS Code were used for the search, allowed for a wider geographical coverage and an expanded on general bases the scope of analysis, since ten (10) different academic databases were exploited. The literature review from an author-centric approach is initially presented; then, it is used as the basis to further develop (and examine) the concept-centric approach, through eight selected categories. The careful screening of literature, constructed on specific concepts, allowed the identification of cross fertilization of such concepts in the respective fields. It is observed that the research efforts focused on the ISPS Code and the development of a Port Facility Security Plan (PFSP) have an integrated perspective, where the categories of terrorism and counterterrorism, as well as maritime security management and the issue of port security have a strong interaction and dominant status. The results demonstrate the limited number of academic contributions in these areas from America Central and South America in relation to other parts of the globe, as well as the total absence of research efforts about the ISPS Code in Mexico. In the scientific contributions on the subject were Mexico is included; it is in reference to isolated cases of armed robbery, drugs organizations or proliferation of crime on general bases, but not regarding the ISPS Code itself. The absence of scientific research on this area for the specific country might also be related to the lack of a national maritime security policy and a poor maritime security culture as the authors have pointed out in other contributions.