1 INTRODUCTION

The globalization processes defining the pace and

directions for the development of world economy,

advancing with significant but variable rate for more

than three decades, have been subject to numerous

disturbances caused by the emerging crises (e.g.,

SARS 2003, financial crisis 2008/2009) and

protectionist actions (US-China trade war from 2018,

US-EU, various embargoes etc.). However, none of

them caused such rapid loss of momentum or so

numerous and broad, unambiguously adverse

economic and social effects on a global scale as the

crisis caused by the need to fight the coronavirus

pandemic (COVID-19), which emerged in the first half

of 2020. The lockdown and phasing-out of business

activity by nearly all countries, including the main

driving forces of global economy, and its duration

within subsequent waves of the pandemic, caused a

crisis incomparable to any other known to date.

The Covid 19 Pandemic – Challenges for Maritime

Transport and Global Logistics Supply Chains

A.S. Grzelakowski

Gdynia Maritime University, Gdynia, Poland

ABSTRACT: The outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic and the actions that all countries took in its aftermath all

over the world in the first quarter of 2020 and later, i.e., during lockdowns and other restrictive measures,

introducing a short and medium-term freezing of economic activity, had a strong impact on their economies

and, consequently, also on the global economy. They hit seriously its particularly sensitive sectors, such as

industry, trade and transport.

The aim of undertaken research is to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the functioning of maritime

transport sector as well as to indicate its consequences for the global supply chains between 2020 and 2021 (first

quarter). The research is mainly focused on assessing the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on the global

shipping and especially container one that is contemporarily the most vital link of the global intermodal land-

sea supply chains.

The analyses take into account the adaptive measures taken by ship operators and other individual parties being

an integral link of the global supply chains with an aim to mitigate the effects of radical slowdown in industrial

and global trade activity. The research was based on the analyses, reports and several business information

carried out by specialized international organizations as well as ship carriers and logistics providers.

The obtained research results indicate the need to reconfigure global logistics supply chains and increase their

resilience by introducing new digital solutions. It is high time to introduce new smart, green digital supply

chains and subsequently to reconfigure them much more towards the regional trade and economic relations and

ties among countries (reshoring). Such activities aiming at rebuilding the logistic supply chains may at the same

time change the presently existing business environment in global maritime shipping, enforcing not only

changes in ship owners’ business models but also serious structural alterations on the shipping freight markets.

http://www.transnav.eu

the International Journal

on Marine Navigation

and Safety of Sea Transportation

Volume 16

Number 1

March 2022

DOI: 10.12716/1001.16.01.07

The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

appears to be the black swan, and not as before, a

huge financial crisis or sudden economic collapse in a

particular region in the world. Thus, the types of

reaction how to fight this crisis are different than

those previously known and applied, and in addition,

different in their form and character. Furthermore, the

crisis also occurred in other than previously known

conditions regarding the functioning of global

economy. It has entered deeply into the development

of economy 4.0, based on digitalization, gradually

implementing the development model typical of the

sharing economy. As a result, the status has also

changed – the development level, structure and the

mechanism of its operations. The real and regulatory

sphere of global economy has significantly changed,

including its ability to respond to crises. This was the

result of progress made in the area of economic

deregulation and market liberalisation (regulatory

aspect) as well as the expansion of outsourcing and

offshoring, and the implementation of digital

solutions (real aspect).

The progressive structural changes in the area of

world production, consumption and trade have been

accompanied at the same time by phenomena such as

the strengthening of cooperative relations between

transnational corporations and companies, and

thereby the increasing interdependence between

them, as demonstrated by the development of supply

chains, including global value chains, which carried

almost 79% of the value of world trade in 2019 [5].

The processes of economy integration and individual,

rather fragmented types of markets have also

intensified.

However, these processes and phenomena have

generated new risks, not always vivid and clear in the

era of prosperity. They were often underestimated;

entities often failed to take appropriate actions to

effectively manage the risks and changes that

occurred in the real-world economy. These include,

inter alia, the risk related to deindustrialisation of

Europe - mainly the highly developed economies in

this region, and underestimating China's growing

economic power and its gradually increasing role in

the global economy.

Already in 2003, during the SARS epidemic,

China’s share in global production totalled only 4%

and 5.8% in the world trade (4th place), and today,

China’s share totals 16% in both production and

world trade (1st place) [14]. It means that every

economic and not only economic event that occurs in

that area, has a strong impact on the global economy.

2 GLOBAL ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF PERIODIC

ECONOMIC HIBERNATION

The effects of preventive measures taken by particular

countries, aiming to limit the spread of COVID-19

were revealed not only on a micro and macro, but also

on the mega scale. They became strongly evident on

the financial and labour markets, as well as the freight

and service markets, which affected the functioning of

global chains and supply networks. In the

macroeconomic context, the aggregated effects of

fighting the pandemic were revealed mainly as a

significant decrease in GDP and employment. In the

first and second quarter of 2020, the countries such as

the USA and Germany observed a decrease in GDP

from 10.6 to 11.9%, and the UK even by 22.1%, which

proves that the countries faced a significant technical

recession [2]. In such cases, the return to the path of

growth, even after significant acceleration in the rate

of growth in the two subsequent quarters, will take

quite a long time, and fighting high unemployment

and decrease in consumer and investment demand

will lead to a decrease in budget revenue and

substantial increase in the budget deficit and public

debt. Therefore, the stability of public finances in

highly developed countries providing billions for the

support of sectors in deep crisis – including the

transport sector, is hanging in the balance and its

disturbance equivalent to destabilization of the

world’s financial system may lead to another global

economic and financial crisis. Then, the successive

waves of the pandemic could result in a meltdown of

the existing world economic systems.

The extremely difficult economic situation of the

countries with high share in the world trade, observed

after the first wave of pandemic, is broadly reflected

by global PMI indexes (Purchasing Managers’

Indexes) which determine the activity in the area of

new export orders, both in goods and services. (fig. 1).

They showed, even in the service sector, the value of

only 21.7 points, and in the freight sector 27.1 points,

which is definitely lower than the level observed

during the crisis in 2009. We should remember that

the decrease in PMI below 50 points indicates the

decrease in economic activity and, if persistent, it may

constitute the beginning of recession, followed by a

crisis.

Figure 1 Global PMI new export orders indices (January

2008 – May 2020).

Source: [14, 15]

The recession proved that the gross world product

and the world trade have fallen markedly during this

period in terms of volume and value. In 2020, the

world gross domestic product compared to 2019

dropped as per the optimistic scenario presented by

WTO by 2.5% and as per the probable scenario

presented by UNCTAD, Oxford Economics, IMF and

Economies Intelligent Unit by 4.3% [15]. The scale of

decrease in the volume of global trading in the first

half of 2020 compared to the earlier period was

presented in fig. 2. The decrease in the volume of

global trading was incomparably higher than the

reduction in the rate of growth of the world GDP. In

the era of globalisation, the commodity markets

respond more energetically to crisis phenomena than

the world economy, as a complex structure, the

development of which is defined by many sectors of

production ultimately constituting the world gross

domestic product.

Figure 2 Volume of global trade (2008 = 100)

Source: [5]

As a result, in 2020 we could observe a major drop

in the volume of maritime trade, to an extent

comparable to the one observed during the 2009 crisis.

However, this tendency, with less significant rate, was

already apparent in 2018 and deepened in 2019, which

resulted from the US-China trade war and to some

extent, from Brexit. The tendency was presented

against the background of changes in the world GDP

growth rate in fig. 3.

Figure 3 Development of international maritime trade and

global output, 2006 – 2020

Source: [8]

Nevertheless, the decline in maritime transport in

2020 became evident to varying degree within

particular main trade lanes and transport routes of the

world freight trade (fig. 4) . It was most significantly

observed within transatlantic and South America

trade lanes as well as Middle East, West Africa and

South-East Asia. It became apparent and on a large

scale (-7.3 %) within all supply chains characterized

by significant intensity of transport along the Far East

(China) – Europe routes (see fig. 4.)

The substantial decrease in the volume of maritime

trade (by more than 4% on average), resulting from

downward tendency for the increase in demand for

global trade commodities and consequently the

decrease in demand for maritime transport, resulted

in far-reaching repercussions within particular sectors

of the freight market. These effects became apparent,

to the greatest extent, on the global maritime container

transport, the economic circumstances of which

constitute some kind of barometer of the global

freight market standing (fig. 5). In 2020, compared to

2019, where serious slowdown was already observed,

the container transport decreased by more than 5%.

Figure 4. The main routs of the global merchandise trade in

2020.

Source: [3, 11]

Figure 5. Global containerized trade, 1996 – 2020. Million

TEUs and annual percentage change

Source: [7, 8]

Therefore, in the first three quarters of 2020, this

sector of maritime transport recorded the highest

losses, in terms of TEU volume and finances (decrease

in revenue and profits). In the middle of the year, it

was even assumed that maritime container operators

may suffer a loss in amount of 10 billion US dollars at

the end of 2020 [1, 6]. However, the predictions based

on data from January to July proved incorrect since

already in the middle of the third quarter of 2020, we

could observe sudden and quick acceleration on all

maritime freight markets, in particular in the sector of

container transport.

3 MARITIME FREIGHT MARKETS IN THE ERA OF

THE PANDEMIC

Maritime freight markets and in particular their

demand side, are under intense pressure from the

dynamic changes observed on the freight markets. In

2020, a significant issue for the transport sector,

including maritime transport, involved the

accumulation of goods in warehouses, on yards, and

in the logistics and distribution centres, caused by the

COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, in the second

half of 2020, we could observe substantial

disturbances in the functioning of supply chains – in

all their sections, mainly in seaports [10, 11]. In such

situation, it was not possible to maintain the existing

transport schedules and it became necessary to

introduce significant changes in the freight collection

schedules. Most major seaports suffered

unprecedented problems with the collection of goods

by land operators. This peculiar, unusual type of port

congestion, which was observed, led to higher

probability of increased cargo damage, mainly in the

group of sensitive cargo, including the refrigerated

and frozen cargo. The costs resulting from freezing

the capital stuck in these goods were rising, too.

In these circumstances, there was a major decline

in port turnover and reductions in freight and charter

rates in all sectors of global shipping. The changes that

occurred at that time on the global maritime transport

markets are reflected by the basic freight indices,

defining the fluctuation rate of demands, freight rates

and ship owners’ earnings.

Fig. 6 presents fluctuations in charter rates (time

charter) in the sector of container transport, based on

the New ConTex Index, from June 2016 to July 2020.

In mid-2020, it reached the lowest level, and from July

that year, it has revealed the increasing tendency in

time charter rates.

Figure 6. New ConTex index, 2015 – 2020. Index base:

October 2007 = 1.000 points

Source: [8, 9]

A similar tendency, although not related to all

types of bulk ships, was observed on the maritime dry

cargo transport market. It is reflected by the

fluctuations of BDI indices (Baltic Dry Index) – fig. 7.

The BDI is an index of average prices paid for the

transport of dry bulk materials across more than 20

routes. The BDI is often viewed as a leading indicator

of economic activity because changes in this index

reflect the supply and demand for important materials

used in manufacturing. However, here, the situation

considerably improved already in the second half of

2020 [1, 6, 8]. The substantial production growth, first

in China and later in other countries in the world,

striving to replenish the stocks which declined during

lockdowns, increasing the purchase, resulted in rapid

surge in demand for any bulk cargo. Therefore, in

2021, we can observe an increase in the sea-borne

transport prices of this raw material, by more than

50% [6, 8].

Figure 7. Baltic Exchange dry index, 2017 – 2020.

Source: [1, 8]

The BDI index, taking into account the average,

daily earnings of four types of bulk carriers, increased

only between March and April of 2021 by 38 points to

2.178 points [1, 7]. This, in turn, made these ship

owners’ daily earnings increase on average by some

hundred dollars per day.

Even more significant recovery was observed on

the global maritime container transport market.

Container ocean operators recorded during the last 8

months (Sept. 2020 - April 2021) the best period in the

history of container shipping and this boom arising

from a large increase in demand is being continued

[6]. The tendency is reflected in fig. 8, illustrating the

changes in charter rates between 2012 and 2021 for

various types of container ships.

Figure 8. Alphaliner charter rates, 2012 – 2020,

Source: [1]

With reference to S&P Global Platts, from March to

April 2021, on the Asia – South America transport

route the contracted transport rates per 1 TEU varied

from 2500 to 3000 USD, which means that they were

higher by 25% - 50% than in the previous year [6, 7, 9].

The rates, in particular spot rates on the China – US as

well as China- Europe trade lanes fluctuated near the

record-breaking amount of the fourth quarter of 2020.

The Ningbo Container Freight Index (NCFI),

calculated as an average of 21 individual indices for

21 main trade lanes from the port of Ningbo, which

was valued USD 2040,16 per FEU at the end of March

2021, increased a week later by 4.8% to USD

2138,21/FEU. Nevertheless, it was still lower than the

amount reached on 8 January 2021, namely USD

2498,46/FEU. A similar trend can be observed by

analysing the rate of changes in the Shanghai

Container Freight Index (SCFI), which reflects even

more clearly the changes occurring on the container

transport market [1, 6]. However, the changes in the

level of SCFI were not as dynamic as in the case of the

NCFI index; its increase totalled, from March to April

2021, ca. 0.6% on a weekly basis.

The analysis of the existing market conditions

clearly indicates that the tendency of freight rate

growth as well as the revenue of container operators

will still persist. The new contracts concluded by the

largest importers in the USA and the EU with the

leading ship owners reveal the continuous upward

trend [1]. It arises from numerous factors; though,

mainly the market related ones. Higher costs of

freight shipment in containers result from numerous

factors, adverse for the shippers, overlapping one

another at a particular time. The basic of them

include: the increasing demand for goods and

transport together with the shortage of transport

capacity on a large scale, congestion in seaports

caused not only by delays in supplies but also

increased by the insufficient number of dockers and

truck drivers, as well as currently chronic even lack of

containers for freight transport. All this slows the

global transport down, causing major disruptions in

the functioning of global supply chains and

consequently, a major increase in transport costs.

Yet, the increasing freight rates and their

acceptance by the shippers fail to guarantee the

confirmed stowage abord the ship [6, 9]. The issues

with available space on ships, observed since the end

of March 2020, persisted also in April [1]. Although by

analysing this issue we can observe that on a global

scale the so-called „blank sailings” dropped in April

to 42 from 49 recorded in March, but it fails to refer to

all main transport routes covered in the analysis.

Along the Far East – Europe/Mediterranean trade

lane, the number of „blank sailings” is likely to

increase by as much as 38% compared to March this

year [6]. This persistent situation, resulting from

considerable growth rate of effective demand relative

to impossible to obtain in a short time increase in

potential supply, i.e., the container fleet transport

capacity will still generate the increase in freight rates

– mainly spot, as well as charter rates in this sector of

global shipping.

Therefore, the maritime freight upward trend will

persist. It was impossible to change it before, and it

has been impossible to do it now through actions

taken by the leading shippers, international freight

forwarders and logistics companies, as well as large

retailers and producers who conclude contracts with

ocean operators every year to block the frequent

increases or changes in the maritime freight rates,

negotiating medium-term, usually annual contract

rates. To some extent, this trend may be slowed down

only by the reconfiguration of services re-scheduled in

terms of more flexible adjustment of tonnage to the

changes in demand related to particular transport

routes.

In the current crisis the dominant partners within

the maritime global containers markets include only

those carriers who belong to a small group of

beneficiaries who profit significantly from the

persistent market instability. In the fourth quarter of

2020, only 11 of them generated the total net profit

amounting to 5.8 billion USD. Assuming that those

who failed to disclose their data (EBITDA), such as

e.g., MSC, generated similar profit, it can be estimated

that their accumulated net profit for that period

totalled as much as 9 billion USD. It means that they

generated 2 billion USD higher profits than the profit

generated within the last five years, which amounted

to 7 billion USD.

Only a few container operators recorded losses in

the analysed period. They did not include the three

largest Taiwan operators, i.e., Evergreen, Yang Ming

and Wan Hai, who generated significant operating

profit during the dynamic increase in rates and the

related shortage of containers [1]. Evergreen recorded

net profit in amount of 853 million USD per 2020,

whereas Yang Ming and Wan Hai recorded profits in

amount of 420 million and 396 million, respectively.

The profits are used in part to pay off old debts

and repay the loans as well as, to a larger extent, to

invest in the tonnage and purchase the equipment,

including the containers. Such activities are

exemplified by Hapag-Lloyd, which already in 2020

placed an order in China for 150,000 20-foot

containers worth 550 million USD [1, 6]. The order

also comprises 8 000 TEU of special containers for the

transportation of oversized and dangerous goods. The

contract will be completely fulfilled in 2021, which

will contribute to alleviate the existing shortage of

containers and facilitate the functioning of the supply

chains.

Moreover, facing the shortage of transport capacity

in the sector of container market, in relation to the

increased financial liquidity of ship owners operating

on this market, only in March this year, they placed

orders for 45 large ULCV containers of total capacity

of 866,060 TEU [7, 8]. Therefore, their gradual entry

into operation, together with 27 smaller vessels

contracted at the same time may, within the next 2-3

years, lead to the alleviation of the existing shortage of

transport capacity in the global container transport

market and its sustainability. The process may occur

much faster since in the first quarter of 2021 in total,

the shipyards received orders for vessels of carrying

capacity above 1.39 million TEU. This is the best result

in six years. Consequently, the tendency to renew and

develop the tonnage, observed already in the last

quarter of 2020, when only vessels of max. carrying

capacity of 23 000-24 000 TEU were ordered, is

accelerating in 2021, indicating the struggle of ship

owners, as participants in the global supply chains, to

improve the efficiency of their operations in the

logistics context, and increase in the effectiveness of

freight movement on a global scale, in the economic

context.

4 IMPACT OF CRISIS ON GLOBAL SUPPLY

CHAINS – TRENDS IN THEIR EVOLUTION

The pandemic crisis, which has significantly

exacerbated the already existing disruptions in the

global economy, resulting from the increasing trade

protectionism, affected the functioning of global

supply chains. Major disruptions were observed in

this area, leading to the far-reaching destabilisation

and disorganization. Most of them lost their agility

and flexibility, and consequently the ability to

respond to rapid changes in the global environment.

This had a significant impact on the global transport,

mainly maritime transport handling over ¾ of the

world trade freight volume. In this situation, actions

were taken to redevelop and improve it, looking for a

new business model adjusted to the current situation,

as well as new configuration. Since it turned out that

many configurations of the global supply chain are

very sensitive and are characterised by poor response

to the emerging threats and require replacing them

with different structures other than the typical ones

from the beginning of 2020 [4, 9, 13].

In addition to the obvious need for change, forced

by the existing situation, at the heart of currently

taken large-scale actions aimed to reconstruct the

supply chains, there is a conviction that the current

crisis, like any such meltdown, always creates

numerous new possibilities and opportunities for

innovative entities. The principle “Never waste a

good crisis” also refers to the supply chains in the era

of COVID-19, stimulating the need to reconstruct

them, often in a difficult and time-consuming way.

Therefore, following the assumption that the current

supply chain has been significantly damaged and, in

many cases, seriously destroyed, it is believed that its

structural reconstruction is indispensable. The key

thereto involves meeting not only the requirement of

different approach to reconstructing the formula and

the supply strategy and often the distribution

channels, but also the requirement of reshoring,

namely stronger orientation to the closest

environment (regionalization). There is also the need

to develop a new cost-related model of the supply

chain and the formula of its effective functioning [11,

12]. In this respect, it is essential to:

1. depart from the formula of one source of supply in

favour of multiple sources (multi-sourcing),

namely diversification and development of multi-

sourcing strategy,

2. cooperate, i.e., build cooperation-based relations

between entities,

3. ensure flexibility and resistance of the supply chain

to random events,

4. optimize the area of production, network location

and risks,

5. accept the fact that the markets and supply chains

were, will be and must be different,

6. include, in a flexible way, the supply chain into the

existing ecosystem,

7. develop scenarios for various groups of products

and continuously map their impact on the level

and costs of customer service.

At present, in the era of industry 4.0 and

widespread digitalisation, the digital solutions within

the newly constructed supply chains are crucial.

However, the digital supply network must be

adjusted to the company business strategy,

constituting its integral part at the same time.

Moreover, risk management must be a coherent

component of such project since risk management and

business continuity also constitute an integral element

of the overall business strategy. From the perspective

of adopted risk management model, the key to success

also involves developing a „resilient” supply chain.

This chain not only seeks to reduce the risk on its

own, but also has the ability to quickly adapt to

unpredictable disturbances and restore the state of

balance within the global supply chain. Fig. 9 presents

the structure of linear and digital supply chain.

Figure 9. Linear and digital supply chains

Source:[4]

These days, the supply chain digitalization is

perceived as an effective way to develop the strategy

and achieve the required resistance and business

effectiveness in an organization, based on the

emerging disruptions in the supply chain. In such

circumstances the analysis of large sets of data may

help companies – including the global sector of

maritime transport, to facilitate the process of

selecting suppliers and processing in a cloud which is

more frequently used to help build relations with the

suppliers and manage these entities. As a result,

thanks to the automation and the Internet of Things

we can significantly facilitate the logistics and

forwarding, as well as transport processes.

To achieve the level required for the

implementation of digital supply chain, all elements

must be efficient, effective, flexible and ready to

manage the operational, employment and

demand/supply fluctuations. The entities operating

therein should also possibly quickly return to

introducing the strategic and financial planning rules

and start developing the structure of business models

for the post-COVID-19 era. [3, 6 ] The implementation

of these activities will help reconstruct and organize

the supply chains developed under the new formula

and accelerate the digital transformation, which apart

from obvious benefits may also lead to effective

integration into the area of international division of

labour and acquisition of the effects resulting from

globalisation.

5 CONCLUSION AND FINAL COMMENTS

The conducted analysis of the effects of crisis caused

by the COVID-19 pandemic for the world economy, as

well as the global sector of maritime transport –

mainly the container transport, as well as the global

logistic supply chains between 2020 and 2021 (first

quarter) indicates that they were deep and severe in

their economic and financial as well as social context

for the economies of particular countries and for every

area of business activity subject to the analysis.

However, these effects are distributed asymmetrically

in the regional and sector-based global economic

systems, becoming apparent with varying intensity

within the analysed period. Nevertheless, in general,

the sector of freight exchange, commercial services

and maritime transport were relatively the least

affected by the crisis in 2020 and quickly entered the

development path. The World Bank (WB) in its latest

forecast of 2021 predicts that the world GDP increases

at a rate higher than 4% and global trade at a rate of 6

%. [ 14 ]

During the first months of 2020, the sector of

global maritime shipping, and in particular the

container transport was particularly affected by the

effects of crisis due to the congestion in port terminals

(lockdown) and the continuous disorganization of

global supply chains. Due to the inability to collect

cargo in seaports and the resulting pressure from the

shippers to slow down the supplies carried by sea, the

ships became the floating warehouses, and it was

necessary to suspend some services. Though, in the

middle of the third quarter of 2020 the situation is

gradually stabilizing. The supply chains are cleared,

the demand increases and consequently the spot

freight and charter rates go up. The carrier revenues

are also increasing at a significant rate. It is

particularly apparent in container shipping at the Far

East– USA trade lane, as well as the routes towards

South America or West Africa and the Middle East –

Western Europe trade lanes. The tendency continues

in 2021; however, at a lower rate of growth of freight

rates. The maritime container transport is expected to

increase in 2021 by 5% compared to 2020, and the

analogous boom can be observed in the tramp

shipping sector. [ 10 ] The main BDI index of the Baltic

Exchange, tracking the bulk carrier rates, increased in

April 2021 to the highest level in 18 months. We can

observe significant increase in demand in all sectors of

bulk carrier shipping.

As the economic recovery advances, the global

supply chains are gradually revived, and in most

cases, against primary expectations in their previous

structure. At this stage of the ongoing crisis no radical

actions are taken to reorganize them in a fundamental

form. However, they are reconstructed but under

different principles, e.g., with greater participation of

all partners within the division of responsibility, risk,

costs and effects. In fact, global operators of these

supply chains seek to reconstruct the situation from

before the pandemic. Similar approach can be

observed among the leading transport operators, in

particular the container ones.

Since that system was very convenient for them.

The majority had a dominant or close to dominant

position on the partial global markets. The scale of

benefits they obtained was significant. Nevertheless,

they also try to draw conclusions from the crisis,

taking actions which result from the assessment of the

situation and experience gained within the last six

months. These, in turn, clearly reveal that the most

sensitive and unreliable element was the human

factor. In this context, robotization, automation and

digitalisation are strongly forced through, taking

quick actions to implement new technologies in

transport, forwarding and logistics. It is, therefore, an

attempt to eliminate the existing strong impact of the

human factor on the functioning of supply chains. The

employee’s role will be reduced only to the remote

control of processes in the area of transport and

logistics. Thus, we can see the increasingly intensive

efforts to develop autonomous units in shipping and

other transport sectors, e.g., promoting automated

transport and developing global electronic exchanges.

These trends can be observed in all modes of

transport and forms of transport market organisation.

The TSL sector global operators also plan to

implement 5G technology as quickly as possible, i.e.,

the new generation of mobile telecommunication

networks. It promotes numerous activities within the

development of 5G services in the global logistics

sector.

Numerous actions are taken to develop digital

technologies to establish a new market organization. It

is best exemplified by TradeLens – digital blockchain

platform developed by companies Maersk and IBM. It

was joined not only by CMA CGM and MSC, but also

during the pandemic by the Canadian GCT (Global

Container Terminals), the Indian digital forwarder

Shipwaves, the Russian port of Vladivostok, the

Turkish port operator Yilport and the container

terminal in Sri Lanka, SAGT. The TradeLens platform

has the potential to encourage the global TSL sector to

digitalize the supply chains and cooperate within

common standards. With more than 100 members

today, the key platform in this sector, based on the

digital collaboration, has already processed more than

ten million separate shipping events and thousands of

documents each week, providing freight forwarders,

carriers, customs officials, port authorities, inland

waterway suppliers and other entities common access

to information on transactions. Therefore, these days

TradeLens already offers data on nearly half of the

global transport.

Such formula of data integration allows to

introduce digital transportation into the container

supply chains much quicker. As a result, this will

stimulate innovation, leading to the evolution of the

container transport sector towards not only its full

digitisation, but also its integration into the digital

global ocean logistics area. Its further development as

well as the development of other similar trade

platforms will change the existing business

cooperation model within the global supply chains. It

may lead to significant consequences for the global

TSL sector, in particular for smaller regional

forwarding and logistics companies, pushing them to

niche segments of the market.

These solutions become part of the previous efforts

aimed to simplify the supply chain and to eliminate

intermediaries. In addition, the implementation of

new technologies is quite costly and can be afforded

only by the largest, entities with significant capital in

this market sector. Thanks to such solutions, they have

the opportunity to gain new market shares. This will

result in further concentration in the sector of capital-

intensive types of shipping, as well as the entire

transport, including mainly intermodal transport.

This, in turn, will lead to changing the global modal

shift in transport and intensifying competition

between the rail and maritime transport, mainly

within the continental routes but also to some extent,

intercontinental ones (e.g., Europe – Far East).

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