PortEconomics co-director Theo Notteboom was among the speakers during the first in the series of the IAPH/IHS Markit ‘Coronavirus Webinars’ which was broadcasted this week.
Under the guidance of IHS Markit Vice-President Maritime and Trade Peter Tirschwell, Theo joined Gene Seroka (Executive Director Port of Los Angeles), and Jan Hoffmann (Chief Logistics Branch UNCTAD) to discuss how ports could survive and thrive in the post-COVID19 landscape.
Rather than casting a negative perspective on the current crisis inflicted by the pandemic, speakers highlighted the opportunities for ports to embrace digitalisation and decarbonisation in the ‘new normal’.
Global trade is expected to decline quarter-on-quarter by 27% and container volumes will drop at an equally dramatic rate due to the impact COVID-19 had had on the global supply chain, according to the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) in a report organised by UNCTAD.
Nearly 1200 delegates registered for this first webinar in a series produced by the team behind the World Ports Conference.
“An avalanche of things is hitting the ports at the moment,” said Theo Notteboom, who co-authors with Thanos Pallis the WPSP-IAPH COVID-10 Port Economic Barometer, “despite this the ports and supply chains are still working quite well, and there have not been many disruptions”
“Predicting what may happen next continues to be a challenge but Notteboom explored these predictions as he compared the current crisis to the 2008 financial crisis.
Compared with 2008 people are much more prepared for sudden shocks to the economy he noted.
There is optimism now because people know how to get out of it, in 2008/09 there seemed to be no way out
“There is optimism now because people know how to get out of it, in 2008/09 there seemed to be no way out,” he said.
Theo Notteboom, said we may well see a fast recovery immediately after the various lockdowns are lifted by this might slowdown in the future. He also noted that we are unlikely to see many mergers and acquisitions taking place and most major shipping players will survive without bankruptcy, partly because many are “too big to fail”.
If you missed the webinar, you can watch it on demand via this link.
