Logistics Industry Meeting Held to Resolve Logistics Difficulties for SMEs

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Lee Young) announced on the 7th that it held a logistics industry meeting to resolve logistics difficulties faced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at the Arenas Yeongjong Logistics Center in Jung-gu, Incheon.

This meeting was organized to listen to the logistics industry's opinions on the difficulties faced by export SMEs, which are directly affected by rapidly changing international situations, and the directions for response. Five logistics companies, including Samsung SDS, which was selected as the operator of the 'Dedicated Air Logistics Center for SMEs (Smart Trade Hub)' scheduled to be established by the end of 2025, attended.

The government is currently building a 'Dedicated Air Logistics Center for SMEs' on a site near Incheon Airport, aiming to start operations in the second half of 2025 to alleviate the logistics burden on SMEs.

During the meeting, the industry trends regarding the current logistics situation of SMEs and ways to enhance the role of the 'Smart Trade Hub' to be established in 2025 were discussed. Key policy tasks presented included ▲ linking export support projects to companies using the Dedicated Air Logistics Center for SMEs ▲ the necessity of domestic logistics support between companies and the logistics center ▲ cost reduction through securing overseas logistics bases.

Afterwards, participants visited the logistics center of logistics company Qxpress, which attended the meeting, to observe the status of logistics automation and discuss the operational plans for the 'Smart Trade Hub.' Lee Dae-hee, Director of SME Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, "Unexpected international situations causing freight rate increases and difficulties in securing logistics space are major risk management factors for export SMEs," and added, "We will actively develop policies to alleviate the logistics burden on export SMEs, learning from the sharp rise in logistics costs in 2022 that intensified the burden on export SMEs."