The impact of Covid-19 on logistic systems: An Italian case study

since the beginning of 2020, a new virus named COVID-19 has rapidly spread to a global pandemic. The world economy has been strongly affected and early evidence suggests that its impact has involved all the sectors and business functions. In such context, logistics activities have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic because of the introduction of new strict prevention rules; moreover, purchasing behaviours of customers have changed and systems had to rapidly adapt to unexpected events. This paper aims to investigate the impact of the sanitary emergency on logistics activities. A logistic provider specialized in the food and fast moving consumer goods sector has been involved in the research in order to analyse its activities and the main changes caused by the pandemic. A quantitative survey has been conducted, combining numerical data and qualitative answers. Results confirm strong effects on some sectors and an economic loss mainly due to the new procedures adopted to face the emergency.