Assessment of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Selected Areas of The Transport Sector in Poland

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread destabilization, also having an impact on transport activity. Disruptions resulting from the spread of the virus could be observed in land, air and sea transport. The literature focuses mainly on global effects, omitting local specificities, including Polish conditions. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in individual phases of its development on specific types of transport in Poland has not been assessed. Therefore, the aim of the article was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the functioning of the transport sector in Poland. In the publication, based on a review of scientific publications and an analysis of industry results and statistical data describing the implementation of transport processes, an assessment of the impact of the pandemic on passenger and freight transport was made. The areas most exposed to disruptions in the event of an epidemic threat were indicated, taking into account the division into individual phases of the development of such phenomena. The study showed that the passenger transport market experienced greater disruptions than freight transport. Passenger air transport was the most affected, mainly due to restrictions on international traffic and special requirements for entry to countries. Freight transport experienced
a smaller impact, which was comparable across all transport branches. The greatest disruptions occurred in the initial phases of epidemic development and mainly concerned problems in domestic and global supply chains, increased operational costs for maintaining security, and changes in the structure of transported cargo.