The negative impacts of the pandemic on marine transportation and logistics

         

              The COVID-19 epidemic has had a serious effect on people's lives, families, and communities. The global economy is facing a huge issue of a major recession as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic virus. The crisis appears to be wreaking havoc on the globalization process, especially in the marine industry. 90% of all international trade is transported via ocean, which is one of the primary facilitators of globalization.

New pandemic waves that disrupt supply network and economy in 2021, may cause a deeper drop in maritime transportation and logistic industry. Because of that transportation network and the port sousing cargo volume drop.

According to the Un conference report (UNCTDA) in 2020, there was a 10% drop in worldwide maritime trade and, according to that report, the international chamber of shipping lost 350 million per week.

As a result of the situation, a considerable number of people have lost their jobs. To prevent the virus from spreading further, some governments agreed to close selected ports. Another serious issue was that many businesses went bankrupt, leaving a large number of people jobless.

The shipment of perishable commodities had to follow a unique set of laws and a specific method during this coronavirus outbreak, which significantly decreased freight demand. The 14-day waiting period, or the time period set by each country's relevant authorities, resulted in a further drop in cargo orders

Another significant problem was shutting down ports during the quarantine period to prevent the virus from spreading further among the personnel. Many shipping companies around the world have been heavily disrupted as a result of this. The restriction of certain operations impacted negatively on the profits of the shipping companies. As a result, several countries chose to prevent or restrict the vessels' entry, causing significant disruption among shipping companies across the globe.

Another significant issue was the loss of money and time, because of the dispute among the charters and owners. The origin of those disputes was related to the vessels' hire period. Because of the pandemic, most agreements have expired. But charterers do not like to hand over the ship without earning their desired capacity.

Another issue was unfortunately numerous smaller firms engaged in the shipping and marine industries faced bankruptcy during the pandemic period as a result of reduced demand for cargoes and the failure to manage financial problems.

Those are the major negative impacts of the corona virus outbreak on marine transportation and logistics.