The Effects of COVID-19 Outbreak on Supply Chains and Logistics Activities

A virus called COVID-19, which emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019, crossed the country’s borders and was on the global agenda in a short period of time. In order to reduce the speed of the spread of the pandemic, the quarantine practices and curfews of countries caused significant breaks both in the countries’ economies and in the global economy. The COVID-19 outbreak showed the vital importance of supply chains and logistics as well as the commercial deficiencies of the globalizing world and increased the need for reliable supply chains. During the pandemic process, it has been understood that all supply chains and logistics operations should function flawlessly from supply to production, warehouse operations to transportation, e-commerce to cargo and courier services in order to reach food, health, cleaning and all other basic consumer products easily and quickly. The aim of this study is to evaluate what happened in the supply chains and logistics operations with the COVID-19 outbreak and to develop predictions about possible changes for these areas after the pandemic. The effects of pandemics on supply chain, logistic sector, and especially logistic activities in Turkey are examined. The measures taken for the logistics sector, the expectations of the sector, and the possible changes in supply chains and logistics activities for post-pandemic period are discussed. It is thought that the localization for the supply chains, easy access to suppliers and customers, flexibility, dynamism and digitization will be areas for improvement after the pandemic. The contactless transport models; multi-location, dynamic, low-cost storage approaches; improving communication in logistics services; digitalization; cargo services adapting quickly to demand fluctuations will come to the fore as the topics to be developed in the logistic sector. It is thought that supply chain in health, humanitarian logistics, reverse logistics, closed-loop supply chain issues and the sustainability of supply chains will be areas to be studied and focused by both practitioners and academicians in the post-pandemic period.