The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disastrous impact on the global transport sector with all the modes of transport, primarily air and maritime ones, experiencing a strong deterioration in activity at the global level. However, some markets, for instance rail freight between China and Europe, are benefiting from the situation. The report by COFACE credit insurance company titled «Global Transport: What does the future hold beyond COVID-19?» analyzes the current state of the global transport sector suffering a heavy blow from the pandemic and presents three scenarios for the recovery of the sector.

This short-term outlook edition coincides with the unfolding of the Covid-19 crisis, making the exercise exceptionally challenging. Market forecasts are based on market intelligence available at the beginning of April 2020 and reflect the Covid-19 impact to the extent possible, with all the caveats and limitations in view of the rapidly evolving situation. In addition, for the first time market outlooks are presented for EU-27, and assume a frictionless trade between the EU and the UK in 2020.