WTO Holds Hearing on the Effects of COVID on National Transport: EFSA Represents SA

The DTIC kindly invited EFSA to make a presentation on behalf of SA to the WTO Council of Trade on 13 June to address the impact of the Pandemic on transport and logistics services in SA. With the invaluable assistance of the Transport Forum, we pointed out that international supply chains had been hard hit during the COVID pandemic. Fewer ships and air cargo deliveries, and a sharp increase in costs had impacted negatively on SA’s economy. Road transport had also been badly affected, partly by restrictions on road usage and confusion over entry and exit at frontiers. EFSA recommended that in future countries should draw up scenarios to address the bottle-necks that had occurred during the pandemic.