Maritime transport has registered a recovery in world trade after its fall caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an analysis published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The number of ships arriving in ports to unload and load containers rebounded in many parts of the world in the third quarter of 2020, according to new UNCTAD estimates.
This offers an encouraging sign for shipping and global merchandise trade in general, which suffered a historic 27% year-on-year decline in the second quarter.
Shipping experienced a dramatic slowdown earlier this year as government measures used to curb the Covid-19 pandemic restricted economic activities and travel.
As of mid-June, the average number of container ships arriving weekly at ports around the world had fallen to 8,722, a year-on-year drop of 8.5 percent.
But the new data shows that, globally, the average weekly call has started to rebound, rising to 9,265 in early August, just 3% below the levels of a year earlier.
Maritime transport
«Most of the manufactured goods that we produce and consume are shipped in containers,» says Shamika N. Sirimanne, director of UNCTAD’s technology and logistics division. «The latest container port call patterns therefore offer a glimmer of hope for economic recovery from the pandemic.»
A new UNCTAD article explores how data on maritime transport, which moves more than 80% of the world’s traded goods, can help policymakers navigate the troubled waters of a crisis as they wait for official statistics on trade and gross domestic product.
“Even in the absence of official trade statistics, shipping provides reliable near real-time data that can help policymakers make better decisions in managing the recovery from the Covid-19 crisis,” says Ms Sirimanne.
Ports
The UNCTAD article shows that globally, container ship arrivals began to fall below 2019 levels in mid-March 2020 and then gradually recover around the third week of June.
Weekly container ship port calls, world and selected regions
The onset of the decline coincided with the World Health Organization’s decision on March 11 to classify Covid-19 as a pandemic, while the gradual recovery reflects the timeline in which some countries began to emerge from the lockdown.
