Sustainable maritime transport critical to global recovery: UNCTAD

NEW DELHI: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) published a new report titled “Review of Maritime Transport 2021,” which revealed that while the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on maritime trade last year was less severe than expected, the long-term consequences will be far-reaching and could transform the sector.

In an official statement, UNCTAD said that global socio-economic recovery will depend on smart, resilient, and sustainable maritime transport and a worldwide COVID-19 vaccination effort that makes sure that developing countries have fairer access to doses. The analysis found that the medium-term outlook is positive but that there are “growing risks and uncertainties,” such as unprecedented strains on global supply chains, significant jumps in freight costs, and price hikes that hurt both consumers and importers.

According to the paper, the pandemic has highlighted and amplified existing issues in the maritime transportation business including labour shortages and infrastructure requirements. ‘Pandemic-induced logistical issues’ such as shortages of equipment and containers, less reliable services and congested ports were cited in the research as causing a resurgence in maritime trade. Economic recovery has been hampered as a result of supply chain bottlenecks. It also highlighted the challenges existing on the supply side. However, shipping lines have benefitted from soaring freight rates. If container freight rates continue to rise, import and consumer prices will “substantially increase,” according to the report.

Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UNCTAD, commented that the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis will hit, small island developing states (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs), the hardest. She appealed for immediate action to address the issue of hundreds of thousands of seafarers who have been stranded at the seas as a result of the epidemic, citing the difficulties crew replacements and repatriations have faced due to lockdowns, border closures, and a scarcity of international flights.