Minister of Oceans and Fisheries: "Port Congestion and Freight Rate Increases Cause Difficulties for Export Companies... Expanding Support for Temporary Vessels"

Regular Container Shipping Company Presidents Meeting on the 20th

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Moon Seong-hyeok, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, said on the 20th, "Export companies are facing difficulties due to a shortage of shipping space caused by the global increase in cargo volume and a shortage of vessels," adding, "We are expanding support by deploying six temporary vessels on the trans-Pacific route this month."

On this day, Minister Moon held a meeting with presidents of regular container shipping companies and made these remarks. About 20 presidents from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the Korea Shipping Association, HMM, and other regular container shipping companies attended the meeting. They discussed support measures by national shipping companies for domestic export companies struggling with rising maritime freight rates and a shortage of shipping space. They also reviewed market trends on nearby sea routes including the Americas, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Based on this, they discussed additional support measures for export companies such as increasing temporary vessel deployment, prioritizing cargo loading for small and medium-sized shippers, and expanding long-term transportation contracts.

In his opening remarks, Minister Moon explained, "The container freight index has reached an all-time high, and severe congestion continues with cargo unloading at U.S. ports taking more than 10 days after vessel arrival," adding, "Since August last year, a total of 30 temporary vessels have been deployed, including six on the trans-Pacific route this month."

He said, "Although the exclusive shipping space for small and medium-sized shippers was expanded to the U.S. West Coast at last week's Emergency Economic Central Countermeasures Headquarters meeting, export companies are still complaining about logistics difficulties," and urged, "It is necessary to expand cooperation among national shipping companies to deploy temporary vessels, and especially pay close attention as small and medium-sized enterprises find it harder to secure shipping space than large companies."

At the meeting, national shipping companies including HMM agreed to explore additional deployment of temporary vessels and support for small and medium export companies through overall route adjustments and efficiency improvements.

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