In early March 2020, “COVID-19” was the only topic of discussion, as Seattle became the nation’s first COVID “hotspot”. No one was prepared for the ripples from the countless public and private changes that continue from that point. (Last years, I suggested 2020 will always be footnoted, “COVID-19 Pandemic”.)
From March to the Fall of 2020, everyone was assessing how the local port industry was adjusting to the changing safety protocols. In some ways, the response went from understanding the science of COVID, to the adoption of changing regulatory/scientific recommendations, to ultimately handling the surge in container volumes. No one could have seen how 2020’s reactions would exist into the present day.
During the summer of 2021, I discovered UNCTAD was offering a course on the Pandemic. Having observed the U.S. response, I found it informative to see how others experienced the pandemic in their respective regions.
UNCTAD is offering the course again. See the following note if you are interested:
Dear Colleague,
We are very pleased to invite you to the UNCTAD TrainForTrade special course Building Port Resilience Against Pandemics (BPR) that will be delivered in English, French and Spanish from 7 to 31 March 2022.
This two-week online self-paced moderated course followed by simulation exercises and a webinar is open to all profiles from port communities and related government agencies. There is no registration cost thanks to the financial support of the United Nations Development Account and Irish Aid.
We would be grateful if you can share the information in your networks. All interested participants should register themselves at https://tft-reg.unctad.org/ by 25 February 2022 using the passcode corresponding to the language chosen:
- English: BPR2022EN
- French: BPR2022FR
- Spanish: BPR2022ES