Plunging and bouncing back – the corona pandemic and business continuity of Finland’s seaports

Purpose This study analyzes the business continuity impacts of the pandemic on Finland’s seaports, specifically regarding the turnover stability of different types of ports. The study comprised official registered accounting data from 18 major seaport companies, the sample of which represented about 80% of the total transport volumes of the country’s seaborne trade. Design/methodology/approach Descriptive statistics, visual clustering, linear regression and statistical testing were applied in the analysis. The research design was empirical and observational. The seaports were characterized in terms of attributes in terms of their size, line of business, ownership, level of specialization and direction and type of freight; these attributes are then linked to business continuity measurements. Findings Contrary to expectations, smaller ports performed better than larger ports in maintaining their turnover and recovering from the shock. This applied both to the plunge of the turnovers, as the pandemic was declared and started to hit transport flows, and bouncing back and recovering from the plunge. Import-oriented ports outperformed export-oriented ports or the ports with more balanced transport directions. Seaports with mainly bulk cargo also showed more stable turnovers than ports with unitized cargo. Originality/value The motivation is justified by the numerous studies looking at pandemic impact on transport supply chains and maritime sector, ports being an essential element of both. While most studies have been observational, looking at macro-level impacts, and studies are based on a limited number of cases, this study has a comprehensive sample of most seaport companies from a single country. Identifying how different types of ports suffered the most or the least from the pandemic crisis, this study offers a novel comparative approach.