Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international freight transport in Slovenia and EU

Abstract

The sudden emergence of COVID-19 and the declaration of a pandemic in the year 2020 has significantly impacted all factors of the economy, including international trade of goods. International freight transport (road, rail, air, and maritime) was also affected. The research analyses the changes in the implementation of international freight transport during the COVID-19 pandemic in EU countries. The main research question was: How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact international freight transport in Slovenia and selected EU member countries? According to the results, we can see that the pandemic outbreak had a different impact on each type of transport. Some modes of transport were more negatively affected by the pandemic than others. In the case of international road freight transport, the pandemic positively affected it (both in Slovenia and at the EU level) since the volume of transported goods increased.