Ports are highly exposed to climate change and often ill-prepared

IN MID-JANUARY a storm gathered over Lake Michigan. Gale-force winds dragged water up and dumped it on Milwaukee. The city was “pummelled”, says Adam Tindall-Schlicht, the director of its port, which was badly damaged. Dock walls were ripped off and washed inland. The trade routes the port serves, including those for steel from Europe, were disrupted. Climate change has exacerbated the risk of such storms. Mr Tindall-Schlicht notes that water levels on the Great Lakes have never been so high.