Alberto Palacios & Jordi Selfa
CETMO
In 2020, transport in the western Mediterranean was undeniably impacted by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The first steering committee meeting of the Action Plan for the Trans-Maghreb Multimodal Corridor (TMC) took place on 31 May 2022 with the participation of representatives of the Ministries of Transport and Public Works from Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, as well as representatives of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and CETMO
On 24 March 2022, CETMO held, with the contribution of the Islamic Development Bank, the Digitalization of Transport Observatory’s Annual Conference, whose work is supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Transportes, Movilidad y Agenda Urbana
The 10th Conference of Transport Ministers of the Western Mediterranean took place on 6 October 2021 within the framework of the GTMO 5+5. This meeting meant the change of presidency of the group from Mauritania to Malta and the definition of the guidelines for the work of the new presidency.
Jan Hoffmann
Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to maritime transport, leading directly to historically high container shipping freight rates, unpredictable schedules, port congestion and supply chain bottlenecks.
Dr. Ian Borg
Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, Government of Malta
Some reflections on this occasion as Malta takes on the Presidency of the Group of Transport Ministers of the Western Mediterranean – GTMO 5+5 for the next two years.
Arianna Norcini Pala
RAM – Logistica, Infrastrutture e Transporti Spa
Maritime transport plays a key role for the European economy, contributing to transport 75% of its external trade and SSS represents around 65% of total cargo traffic among the 335 maritime ports belonging to the TEN-T.
Jordi Selfa Clemente
CETMO
This article aims to reveal the significance of the year 2020 in quantitative terms and, consequently, the impact of the health crisis on trade flows between the two shores of the GTMO 5+5.
Jordi Selfa Clemente
CETMO
Transport flows were clearly affected by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, the resulting health crisis, lockdown and slow recovery process back to normal.
The magnitude of the impact of COVID-19 was evident from the beginning, when home confinements of population, closure of borders, interruption of value chains, definition of priority freight corridors for essential goods and cancellation of flights and cruises took place. With this perspective, CETMO and IEMed launched the initiative “Mediterranean transport and logistics in a post-COVID 19 era: prospects and opportunities”.