News / LX Pantos spreads its wings as ecommerce traffic drives network expansion

Photo of MegaWise Cheongna Fulfillment Centre—credit LX Pantos

South Korean 3PL LX Pantos said yesterday it had paid $156m to acquire the 11-storey MegaWise Cheongna Fulfilment Centre, near Incheon’s airport and port – the gateways to the Seoul metropolitan area.

LX Pantos, which recently opened a facility at the airport, cited growing South Korean exports from e-commerce sales, saying the acquisition would “boost its cross-border e-commerce capabilities and support its expanding network”.

The centre boasts 142,852 sq metres across its 11 floors – equivalent to 20 football fields. It will beLX Pantos’s flagship hub for K-culture fulfilment to support the increasing volumes of cross-border e-commerce exports of South Korean beauty and fashion merchandise.

Korean customs’ statistics show cross-border e-commerce exports reached $2.9bn last year, a five-fold increase on 2019.

The acquisition of the Cheongna centre came less than a month after LX Pantos opened its commercial cargo terminal at Incheon Airport on 17 January.

The 2,069 sq metre terminal aligns with surging transhipment volumes at the airport, driven by increasing e-commerce demand from China. And with this trend expected to grow, LX Pantos anticipates a steady increase in demand for its the terminal’s services.

With the terminal launch, LX Pantos introduced a dedicated freighter service connecting Incheon with Chicago. The weekly service, operating from 19 January until December, uses a B777F, departing from Incheon every Sunday at 4pm, the flight goes via Anchorage to arrive at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport the same day at 3.45pm, Chicago time.