ATPI’s Nikos Gazelidis shares his insights on the shifting travel patterns within the sector
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world in early 2020, few anticipated how the travel implications for countries, ports and airlines would still affect crew changes and air travel over a year-and-a-half later.
Looking at data from some of ATPI’s global marine clients, we’ve identified the patterns that have emerged within the sector during that time, and highlighted predictions for how we can expect the rest of this year to play out.
Despite some positive developments, unless vaccine distribution and administration in developing countries and primary seafarer source markets accelerates, we do not expect a return to a pre-Covid state of affairs in the shipping industry before spring 2022.
Here are some of the trends we’re currently seeing within the market.
More costly crew changes
Data from 16 of our global marine clients shows that overall air crew change costs have increased by 39 per cent compared to 2019. More precisely, shipping and ship management companies with a mix of Asian and European crew have experienced an average airfare increase around 25-30 per cent. While those with primarily Asian crew have witnessed a respective increase between 40-60 per cent. There are a range of factors that continue to influence the cost of crew changes, from flight availability and testing to quarantine requirements. Many shipping organisations continue to look for ways to mitigate these costs, through strategies such as increased contract periods, vessel diversion and enhanced forward planning.
Source market volatility
Over the last year, we have been subject to an ebb and flow of government restrictions, including complete travel closures, mandatory quarantine periods, and ‘arriving passenger capping’ in key seafarer source markets. As a result, our study…