Pandemic-Related Disruptions in the Field of Freight Transportation

Abstract

The importance of transportation for innovation, growth, competitiveness and well-being is largely indisputable. Freight transportation, in particular, is a prerequisite for the functioning of modern supply chains and a key enabler for customer-oriented strategies of logistics operations. Often, transportation systems are also acknowledged as “critical”. The criticality of transport expresses itself—among others—by its special level of interdependency (with other systems), level of dependency (with human and corporate activities) and the level of infrastructural risk. As transportation systems are regularly exposed to threats and vulnerable to disruptions with far-reaching effects, they receive special attention in political approaches addressing resilience. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions in various societal and economic areas—including transportation. COVID-19 related disruptions (caused, e.g., by lockdowns) that were accompanied by further problematic events in 2020/21 (such as the Suez Canal blockage) were in particular evident in maritime shipping, but also had effects on the other transport modes. This chapter provides a summary of those effects. It will show that the pandemic turned out to be both, a demand and supply crisis, whereas the latter aspect was dominating. This sets the pandemic apart from demand-only shocks such as the various economic crises of the past.