Ministry of SMEs and Startups and KOSME Recruit Additional Companies for Maritime Transport Support Project

Expansion of 4th Phase Support for Small and Medium Shippers' Cargo Space... Applications Accepted Until End of January Next Year

#. Company B, which exports to Amazon in the United States, had recently been facing significant difficulties due to rising ocean freight rates and a shortage of shipping space. Even when securing shipping space by paying high freight charges, shipment schedules at the port were often delayed by several weeks after dispatch. At that time, they learned about the 'Ocean Transport Support Project through the National Shipping Company (HMM)' and successfully completed stable export cargo shipments a total of three times from late November to early December. This enabled them to timely stock goods ahead of the shopping season extending from the end of this year into early next year.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) and the Small and Medium Business Corporation (Chairman Kim Hak-do, hereinafter referred to as SBC) announced on the 9th that they will extend support for the 'Ocean Transport Support Project,' conducted in collaboration with the national shipping company HMM, targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) struggling with export logistics, until the end of January next year.

The ocean transport support project to assist SMEs in securing shipping space was originally scheduled to accept applications until the end of December this year. However, as a shortage of shipping space is expected to continue mainly on the trans-Pacific routes, it was decided through consultations with the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and HMM to allocate an additional 1,400 TEUs (1 TEU equals one 20-foot container) of shipping capacity until the end of January next year.

A total of 253 export SMEs applied for the ocean transport support project, which began accepting applications in November, and so far, support has been provided for the shipment of export cargo to the Americas totaling 1,716 TEUs. To this end, SBC is operating an integrated ocean transport help desk through a forwarder specialized in the Americas. They provide tailored consulting services including ▲logistics brokerage through cargo consolidation for export beginners and small-volume shippers ▲timely support for shipping space through proactive demand discovery based on addressing difficulties ▲and export-import customs clearance agency services for ocean transport and U.S. exports.

Chairman Kim Hak-do said, "Meeting delivery deadlines is the top priority for building trust with overseas buyers, which export beginners have worked hard to establish," adding, "SBC will do its best to ensure logistics stability for Korean export SMEs in preparation for the increase in cargo volume due to the global economic recovery and trade revitalization next year."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.