An Examination of the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Maritime Port of Singapore Container Port Productivity using Malmquist Productivity Index

Abstract

Given the Covid 19 Pandemic that swept the world suddenly during the period of 2019 even till 2021,resulting in severe measures being adopted by national governments, such as national lockdown to reduce the exponential rate of infection, it is important to examine the impact of this pandemonium on the port efficiency of the second largest port in the world. The crux of this paper is to examine the impact of the Coronavirus disease on port efficiency of one of the largest and busiest port in the world using the Malmquist Productivity Index. The paper will examine the trend in productivity and the drivers of productivity for the Maritime Port of Singapore for the years 2010-2020. Furthermore, assess the measures put in place to mitigate the impact of coronavirus. The measures put in place can be adopted by order ports as best practice to combat the scourge of the coronavirus disease. The key findings in the paper are: (1) An established consistency in the efficiency levels of the Maritime Port of Singapore despite the pandemic. (2) The drivers of port productivity for the port of Singapore are technology and efficiency. (3) Confirming that indeed the pandemic affected the total cargo throughput and vessel visit of the maritime port of Singapore.