THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON MARITIME TRADE

Pandemija COVID-19 je v letu 2020 povsem pretresla življenja posameznikov, imela pa je tudi izjemen vpliv na celotno svetovno gospodarstvo. Življenje, kakršnega smo poznali pred izbruhom pandemije, se je tako rekoč čez noč spremenilo oziroma obrnilo na glavo. Tudi dobri dve leti pozneje, v letu 2022, je vpliv pandemije še vedno prisoten, navkljub bolj ali manj uspešnem obvladovanju širjenja virusa je ta še vedno globoko vpet tako v svetovno prebivalstvo kot tudi gospodarstvo. Zaradi številnih ukrepov ter konstantnih sprememb v boju proti pandemiji COVID-19 sem se pri pisanju magistrskega dela osredotočil na leto 2020, da se zaradi prevelikega števila podatkov ne bi izgubili v poplavi najrazličnejših informacij. Cilj magistrskega dela je bil ugotoviti vpliv virusa COVID-19 na pomorsko trgovino ter kakšne so bile reakcije ladjarjev v boju z vplivi COVID-19. Ladjarji so z različnimi prijemi poskušali omiliti negativne učinke pandemije (odpovedi potovanj, zmanjšanje hitrosti ter naročil novogradenj) in odločno vplivali na zmanjšanje učinka pandemije tako na pomorstvo kot tudi pomorsko trgovino. Skozi magistrsko delo sem prišel do ugotovitev, da je imela pandemija COVID-19 kljub sprva zelo tragičnim napovedim za samo pomorsko panogo razmeroma blag učinek, saj si je ta dokaj hitro opomogla in pričela dosegati rekordne rezultate.In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic completely shook the lives of individuals and also had a tremendous impact on the world economy. Our lives were basically turned upside-down, almost overnight. Two years later, in year 2022, the impact of pandemic is still present, despite more or less successful control of the spread of the virus – it is still deeply embedded in both – the world\u27s population and the economy. Due to many different and constantly changing regulations concerning COVID-19 pandemic this master\u27s thesis is based on data collected in 2020 in order to not get lost in the flood of diverse information. The main aim of the master thesis was to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maritime trade and what were the restrictions of ship-owners in the fight against the negative effects of COVID-19. Through various approaches ship-owners tried to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic (such as cancellations of trips, reduction of speed and orders for new constructions) and were furthermore quite successful. Through this master\u27s thesis, I came to the conclusion, that the COVID-19 epidemic, despite initially very tragic forecasts for the maritime industry itself, had a relatively mild effect, as it recovered fairly quickly and began to achieve record results once again