The Maritime-Port Chair (PORMAR) of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria has organized a seminar to analyse the consequences that the accident suffered on March by the ship Ever Given in the Suez Canal. The seminar was given by Jan Hoffmann, Head of the Logistics and Technology Division of UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, created in 1964 for matters related to trade, investment and development.
The collapse in maritime traffic generated by the Ever Given accident barely had a significant effect on the logistics of international trade, according to Hoffman. Shipping companies quickly looked for alternative routes and when traffic reopened in Suez the delays were quickly compensated, despite also, Hoffaman said, the obstacles that the health crisis of the Covid pandemic has caused at the global level. The event, according to this expert, has put on the table a necessary debate on the size of ships, new technologies and the decarbonization of maritime traffic.
Jan Hoffman highlighted as a positive aspect the fact that the Ever Given accident has boosted the media prominence of maritime transport. Especially on televisions around the world and in specialized media such as Marine Traffic. It reached television and media around the world.
On the other hand, Hoffman has highlighted the fact that the Suez event, together with the demands of the pandemic, has accelerated the digitization process of the port’s own procedures, which has made it possible in a short time to streamline the supply chain on an international level.
Source: Puerto Canarias