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Perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and African maritime transport sectors, and the potential implications for Africa’s maritime governance

The maritime transport sector (MTS) has been impacted by the coronavirus 2019 pandemic, with significant disruptions to shipping and maritime activity along established transport routes. This paper examines the impacts of the pandemic on the MTS, at the global and African levels, and discusses what...

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Autor principal: Oyenuga, Adekola
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8022311/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13437-021-00233-3
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author Oyenuga, Adekola
author_facet Oyenuga, Adekola
author_sort Oyenuga, Adekola
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description The maritime transport sector (MTS) has been impacted by the coronavirus 2019 pandemic, with significant disruptions to shipping and maritime activity along established transport routes. This paper examines the impacts of the pandemic on the MTS, at the global and African levels, and discusses what Africa’s priorities for its MTS should be in the post-pandemic era. The short-term impacts of the pandemic are identified as including a drop in the volume of trade transported by maritime shipping; disruptions due to re-routed shipments; maritime defaults and bankruptcies; and stranded seafarers. To understand the longer-term impacts, the paper analyzes the pandemic’s effect on five critical trends facing the MTS globally, viz, trade tensions, geopolitical developments, structural disruptions, regulatory pressures, and environmental incidents. In the African context, the paper highlights that with a mere 4% share of global container port traffic and a 7% and 5% share, respectively, of international maritime exports and imports (measured by tonnage), Africa’s significance to the global MTS is not huge. Hence, an impact analysis based on the global MTS trends would be premature. The paper concludes that Africa’s MTS in the post-pandemic era should focus on improving operational performance and sustainable development. Africa should also improve maritime governance to ensure that desired developmental outcomes are realized. It is argued that adopting a multi-stakeholder governance framework will be most appropriate for the continent’s MTS in the post-pandemic era. Further research is however needed to identify how a multi-stakeholder governance framework should be adapted and deployed to fit different African environments.
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spelling pubmed-80223112021-04-06 Perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and African maritime transport sectors, and the potential implications for Africa’s maritime governance Oyenuga, Adekola WMU J Marit Affairs Article The maritime transport sector (MTS) has been impacted by the coronavirus 2019 pandemic, with significant disruptions to shipping and maritime activity along established transport routes. This paper examines the impacts of the pandemic on the MTS, at the global and African levels, and discusses what Africa’s priorities for its MTS should be in the post-pandemic era. The short-term impacts of the pandemic are identified as including a drop in the volume of trade transported by maritime shipping; disruptions due to re-routed shipments; maritime defaults and bankruptcies; and stranded seafarers. To understand the longer-term impacts, the paper analyzes the pandemic’s effect on five critical trends facing the MTS globally, viz, trade tensions, geopolitical developments, structural disruptions, regulatory pressures, and environmental incidents. In the African context, the paper highlights that with a mere 4% share of global container port traffic and a 7% and 5% share, respectively, of international maritime exports and imports (measured by tonnage), Africa’s significance to the global MTS is not huge. Hence, an impact analysis based on the global MTS trends would be premature. The paper concludes that Africa’s MTS in the post-pandemic era should focus on improving operational performance and sustainable development. Africa should also improve maritime governance to ensure that desired developmental outcomes are realized. It is argued that adopting a multi-stakeholder governance framework will be most appropriate for the continent’s MTS in the post-pandemic era. Further research is however needed to identify how a multi-stakeholder governance framework should be adapted and deployed to fit different African environments. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021-04-06 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC8022311/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13437-021-00233-3 Text en © World Maritime University 2021 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Article
Oyenuga, Adekola
Perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and African maritime transport sectors, and the potential implications for Africa’s maritime governance
title Perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and African maritime transport sectors, and the potential implications for Africa’s maritime governance
title_full Perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and African maritime transport sectors, and the potential implications for Africa’s maritime governance
title_fullStr Perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and African maritime transport sectors, and the potential implications for Africa’s maritime governance
title_full_unstemmed Perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and African maritime transport sectors, and the potential implications for Africa’s maritime governance
title_short Perspectives on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global and African maritime transport sectors, and the potential implications for Africa’s maritime governance
title_sort perspectives on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the global and african maritime transport sectors, and the potential implications for africa’s maritime governance
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8022311/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13437-021-00233-3
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