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Emergency logistics is an important means to deal with disasters and public crises. Since the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus in 2003, China has established and developed an emergency logistics management system. With the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in China, its emergency logistics system is facing unfolded challenges. The main purposes of this study are to explore the development of China’s emergency logistics system in this context and identify the critical success factors for such systems. A series of focus groups are organized to collect the opinions of 24 interviewees from three Chinese cities, namely Wuhan, Shanghai, and Xi’an. Through the analysis, a framework of the critical success factors for emergency logistics in China is recreated. The key elements are demand forecasting and planning, inventory management, distribution network, and systematic information management. Findings suggest critical points on the design and imple-mentation of the emergency logistics operations during a chaotic period.

This editorial establishes the broader context for debating how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the global supply chains, logistics, and transportation networks in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unknown-unknown risk whereby the probability of its occurrence and the possible consequences of a risk event cannot be foreseen. Furthermore, the characteristics of COVID-19 differentiate it from previous disasters in terms of the geographic scope of the impact, and the supply- and demand-side impacts, and are making relevant research challenging. In this special issue, the interwoven relationships between the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges facing global supply chains, logistics, and transportation are discussed, along with a literature review. Selected papers on air transportation networks, emergency logistics, and digital trade are theoretically and empirically probed.

Human resources can differentiate firms from their competitors or directly affect the success or failure of firms. As in many sectors, there is a need for qualified employees in the logistics sector, which is of great importance for the national economies. Qualified employees in this sector contribute to the success of the companies and the development of the industry. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the qualifications and characteristics of the labour force needed by logistics companies. It was also aimed to show the impact of COVID-19 on logistics job ads. For this purpose, a total of 1,410 job vacancy postings (before COVID-19) and a total of 1,700 job vacancy postings (during COVID-19) were searched on the kariyer.net website with the word “logistics” and analysed by content analysis method. As a result, it was found that the most advertised province was Istanbul in both periods, the most looked up experience requirement in the candidates was 1-5 years in both periods, the opportunities provided to the candidates (transportation, food and beverage, career, social activity) were not mentioned much in both periods. This study reveals the status of logistics job postings in the period before COVID-19 and during COVID-19. It was also aimed to show the impact of COVID-19 on logistics job ads. We investigated whether the logistics employee demand has changed and whether the pandemic is affecting workforce characteristics. This is the first empirical analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on logistics vacancy postings.