Impacto de la pandemia del covid-19 en las operaciones de importación y exportación de mercancías por vía marítima en Colombia

Abstract

Since the beginning of 2020, the world has been facing one of the greatest challenges in recent decades, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, which constitutes a great challenge for all countries due to its impact on productive activity, affecting the operation of the global economic system, also in the environment of commercial exchange operations and its means of transport. The purpose of this document is to analyze its effects in the transportation sector, and specifically in the mobilization of cargo by sea in Colombia. Official statistical information was used to establish changes in the country's trade balance, in merchandise export and import operations, and particularly in maritime transport activity. Likewise, information from the resolutions issued by the governments was reviewed to determine the restrictions imposed at the beginning of the pandemic and how companies in the sector have had to reinvent themselves in order to remain in the market without failing in the attempt. In this way, it is intended to understand the dynamics of this sector after the onset of the pandemic and to show an overview of how commercial exchange operations handled in maritime mode have been truly affected during the first phases of Covid 19. From the analysis, There is a drop in total and sectoral GDP growth, as well as in cargo handling operations in the country's port areas, taking the January-June period of 2020 as a reference.