According to data communicated by the International Road Transport Union (IRU) on Friday 13 March, the drop in global road transport activity could reach 20% in 2020, depending on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This decline, calculated on the basis of the significant decrease in intercontinental container transport, casts a shadow over supply chains.
Maintaining these chains, in particular for essential products such as food and medical products while ensuring the safety of transport workers and citizens, is “the most immediate concern” of the road transport sector, the IRU said in a statement.
“We must keep transport links open, everywhere and for as long as possible in the affected areas so that essential goods and people can get to where they need to be”, said IRU Secretary General Umberto de Pretto.
The transport system has to work when it comes to food and health care equipment, also stressed Swedish Minister for the Interior Mikael Damberg on Friday 13 March in the margins of a Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting.
“These kinds of things are important for all European countries so that we don't create problems for ourselves in managing the crisis”, he added. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)