South Korean logistics company Hyundai Glovis, already active on sea and land, is to enter the local air freight sector with a logistics centre at Incheon International Airport, the main gateway to Seoul.
On Friday, the CEOs of Glovis (Hyundai Motors’ transport unit) and Incheon International Airport Corp, Kim Jung-hoon and Kim Kyung-wook, signed an agreement for Glovis to build and operate the five-storey centre to tap into the growing global e-commerce sector and rising demand for cold chain logistics.
Slated for completion in 2025, the centre will have storage and delivery services to sort and repackage cargo before transporting it to final destination.
Incheon International is the world’s second-largest air cargo hub, handling around 6.3m tonnes a year and is South Korea’s only free trade zone for air freight.
The volume of imports and exports sold through e-commerce in the country grew by nearly 25% between 2016 and 2020, while demand for cold chain storage is expected to increase along with the growingvolumes of goods such as vaccines and perishable food items.
The logistics centre will operate a special waybill, with a classification system and its own customs clearance facility. Specialised equipment, such as high-speed x-ray scanners and conveyor belt systems will be installed, and an express customs clearance system will be established through real-time connection with Korea Customs.
Glovis also plans to build an automated warehouse around the centre to store hi-tech items like precision machines and medical devices, as well as a refrigerated warehouse.
