News / South Korea launches multimodal solution for exports to key US cities

South Korea’s Ministry of SMEs and Start-ups is to work with  domestic carrier HMM and Korea Post to provide multimodal logistical support for small and mid-sized exporters to the mid-west and eastern US.

In a combination of shipping and trucking logistics, HMM will ship the goods from Gwangyang, Korea’s second-busiest container port, to Long Beach, from where the containers will be trucked to Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and Little Ferry, using Korea Post’s network.

The service began today, the ministry allocating 20 teu of the shipping slots reserved for small and mid-sized shippers for the trucking arrangement.

Severe congestion in the US west coast ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has seen some 70 vessels waiting as long as nine days for a berth, and it could take two weeks for a ship to be completely unloaded. For shippers with final destinations further inland, this means more delayed deliveries.

The Korean ministry’s global growth policy division head, Kang Ki-sung, said the multimodal arrangement would help Korean exporters get their goods to the mid-west and eastern US cities in time for Black Friday, which marks post-Thanksgiving retail sales.

The Korean government has been pro-active in providing logistical support for local shippers in the face of tight shipping and equipment capacity that has seen freight rates hit astronomical levels.

Since last November, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, working with HMM and SM Line, has provided 12,457 teu of dedicated slots for small and mid-sized shippers,