Maritime container terminal service quality in the face of COVID-19 outbreak

Jędrzej Charłampowicz

doi:10.31217/p.35.1.10

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had a serious impact on global trade in 2020. The interruption of the supply chains due to various restrictions influenced the rapid drop in the transport demand. In the last decade, the global containerized trade has noted the growth of approximately 55,5%, with an average pace of growth of about 5% yearly. Container shipping, as one of the industries vulnerable to economic shocks, has noted a significant drop in trade. The role of maritime container terminals as an integrator and facilitator of global trade in the global supply chains is undisputed. Therefore, the role of services provided by the maritime container terminals has grown in importance. This situation generates the necessity to adapt to these circumstances in a way that expresses the need of improving the service quality, as one of the key aspects of competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to determine the possibility to verify the relation between COVID-19 impacts on maritime container transport and maritime container terminal service quality. Based on the findings the suggested actions for service quality improvement are proposed.

Highlights

Nowadays, in global trade, the key factor of smooth flows of cargoes are efficient and resilient supply chains [9, 11, 34]
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a major impact on global trade and economic activity in maritime container terminals
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on port varied dependent on the cargo mix of the terminal, position in the global supply chain

Summary

Introduction

In global trade, the key factor of smooth flows of cargoes are efficient and resilient supply chains [9, 11, 34]. Due to containerization and its significant impact on global trade, the role of the maritime container terminal is essential At this point, various stakeholders meet, and the attractiveness and competitiveness of the terminal depend on the various element directly and indirectly connected to the terminal, one of the few aspects that can be developed and managed solely by the terminal is service quality [12, 13]. Ports were confronted with a significant decrease in cargo volumes and vessel calls (e.g., the container ship calls in Europe dropped by 7% in 2020 compared to 2019 - total container throughput in Rotterdam dropped by 3,2%, in Hamburg by 7,9%) [28, 48] This lower economic activity, combined with other ongoing global trends, makes port management revisit the development and investment plans [29].

Maritime trade and the role of the container terminals – literature review

COVID-19 impact on the maritime container transport – selected issues

Suggestions for service quality improvement in the face of COVID-19

Findings

Conclusions