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Transportation in the post-COVID era

Defining transportation and logistics scenarios in the post-COVID era

Introduction and objectives

COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on our daily lives on a planetary scale. Economic recovery is an immediate challenge, as well as knowing what new medium and long-term scenarios this pandemic will draw.

In this sense, the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) and CETMO itself are working to launch the “Reflections on Post-COVID Scenarios (RPCS)” initiative. It was born as an ambitious project to generate and discuss knowledge to contribute to the definition of these scenarios in the transport and logistics sector, in the Mediterranean region.

The aim is to build a regional collective intelligence through short articles written by experts and reference organizations that allows us to be active players in building the future of the region. These contributions and their discussion will allow us to reflect on the scenarios, describe them, define priorities and identify opportunities for cooperation to bring it to fruition.

Being aware that the sum, commitment and teamwork must be one of the strengths of the future to come, the ambition of the initiative is based on gathering the forecasts of policy makers, international transport sector associations, think tanks, international organizations and regional institutions together with the regional perspective of the countries themselves, highlighting the interest in the future of the region from different types of actors.

In conclusion, the main objectives of the RPCSs are as follows:

  • To contribute to the building of a collective intelligence on the post-COVID-19 scenario for the transport and logistics sector in the Mediterranean, as well as on the opportunities that it may generate.
  • To visualize a Mediterranean reality in the adaptation to the post-COVID-19 scenario that helps to identify regional measures and strategies in the transport and logistics sector.

Topics and results

The contributions of actors and experts will consist of articles on different topics. More specifically, they will be structured around two approaches. The first approach will refer to cross-cutting topics to present the context that transport and logistics sector might encounter in the medium and long term. Possible topics of interest include: geopolitics, regional globalization and international trade, supply chains, sustainability and revolution 4.0.

The second approach, more extensive in the number of contributions, will focus on the different modes of transport (road, rail, maritime, air, urban mobility and logistics) to describe how COVID-19 will influence trends in each of them, their interaction and the definition of priorities.

A compilation of articles and topic reflections will be obtained as a result, allowing us to outline a target scenario in the medium and long term that guide the evolution of Mediterranean transport and logistics sector, ideally a more sustainable and committed scenario.

As a result, the consolidation of a Mediterranean knowledge will also be achieved, offering a comprehensive vision of the transport system. It will serve to guide and facilitate the efforts of the sector to adapt to future scenarios and to promptly identify future cooperation opportunities that contribute to its regional integration.

Finally, the participation of experts from the countries of the region aims at highlighting the main role that countries must play in defining and building the Mediterranean region.

Different tools will be used to disseminate the articles and reflections generated to benefit the largest number of actors in the region. Among them, a series of periodical newsletters showing the synthesis of contributions stands out.

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