Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation-HMM Business Agreement Signed

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation (aT) announced on the 16th that it recently signed a business agreement with the national shipping company HMM to support the maritime transportation of export agro-fisheries products.

Through this agreement, starting in the second half of the year, HMM's temporary vessels operating to the Americas will allocate dedicated shipping space (cargo loading capacity) for agro-fisheries products with a monthly quota of 265 TEU (200 for agricultural products, 65 for marine products). For agricultural products, this corresponds to about 50% of the second half demand for fresh agricultural products, which is expected to significantly alleviate logistics difficulties faced by exporters of agro-fisheries products to the U.S. market.

Due to the recent surge in global cargo volume, freight rate increases, and container shortages causing a logistics crisis, many exporters have either given up on exports or reduced export volumes. The operation of dedicated shipping space has thus opened a new channel for agro-fisheries product exports to the U.S.

Since April, the corporation has operated the ‘Agro-Fisheries Export Logistics Crisis Response TF’ to monitor domestic and international logistics trends and identify exporters’ difficulties. It has also made multifaceted efforts jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries to secure shipping space. In particular, by assessing the demand for shipping space on the U.S. route, which faces the most severe overseas logistics difficulties, consultations were held with the National Assembly, government ministries, shipping companies, forwarding companies, and related organizations. Through inter-ministerial cooperation and HMM’s decisive action, dedicated shipping space was separately allocated and prioritized for agro-fisheries exports to the U.S.

President Kim Chunjin said, "We hope that the operation of dedicated shipping space for agro-fisheries products will help resolve logistics difficulties for exporters," and added, "We will continue to pursue various efforts to support exporters."

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