Maritime and port terrorism – a phenomenon analysis

Background: In the era of the global threat of terrorist attacks, seaports implement a number of measures to eliminate them. As part of these activities, in addition to threat definition and risk analysis, they also take into account applicable normative documents, both international and national. However, many of these documents equate port terrorist threats with maritime terrorism, which until now has not been clearly defined. It would therefore seem desirable to define terrorist acts threatening seaports as a separate form of terrorism. Consequently, the research problem closed with the question: Is maritime terrorism the same as port terrorism and what factors distinguish them from each other? Objectives: The aim of this paper is not only to present the theoretical issues of the subject, but above all to articulate the factors that distinguish threats of maritime terrorism from threats of port terrorism and to prove that these are two different issues (problems). Methods: Theoretical research methods were used in this study, i.e. analysis of the literature, analysis of the acts of maritime terrorism that have occurred so far, and inference, which is a cognitive factor of the subject under analysis. Results: The results of the research indicate that there are significant differences between a terrorist attack on the high seas and a terrorist attack on a seaport regarding not only the consequences but also the scale of the threat.