A study by the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry expected the maritime recovery to gradually recover with the recovery of the Chinese economy, pointing out that the outbreak of the new Corona virus «Covid-19» globally affected the maritime transport sector and caused the interruption of global value chains.
The study indicated that, according to the estimates of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development "UNCTAD", 80% of the volume of world trade is transported by more than 50 thousand commercial vessels in the world.
She noted that with the pandemic beginning in December 2019, the decline in demand for goods from China had a "harmful" impact on all types of maritime transport, from container ships to oil tankers.
According to the Lloyd's List, which assesses the performance of companies involved in shipping, oil and gas in the first quarter of 2020, container lines lost about 4% of their quantities, compared to the first quarter of 2019.
The Dubai Chamber study stated that the visits of container ships to Chinese ports, which were measured in terms of the number of ships scheduled to arrive and the cumulative capacity in the 20-foot units, decreased by 10% in late January and early February 2020. Maritime transport was also significantly affected during the quarter The second of this year, with the epidemic spreading in other regions, such as Southern Europe and the United States.
She indicated that despite the decline in industrial production in Western Europe, it is expected that imports of basic medical goods and devices will continue to grow, as many Western European economies are taking measures to facilitate imports and sales of medical and vital protective equipment and supplies.
The study expected that maritime transport will gradually recover with the recovery of the Chinese economy, although observers do not expect a strong recovery of maritime freight from China and other Asian economies, due to the expected decline in trade between China and Europe, against the background of the expected decline in demand for unnecessary goods.