Emergency Transport Measures Including Direct Vehicle Driving Delivery and Yard Tractor Road Operation

Deployment of Military-Commissioned Official Cargo Trucks and Increase in Freight Train Services

On the 24th, when the Cargo Solidarity Union began an indefinite general strike, Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, visited the Uiwang Inland Container Terminal in Gyeonggi Province and held a briefing after an emergency situation meeting. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

The Cargo Solidarity Headquarters of the Public Transport Union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) began an indefinite general strike at midnight on the 24th, prompting the government to announce emergency transportation measures and other response plans.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) on the 24th, the government will operate a Central Transportation Countermeasures Headquarters and hold daily meetings chaired by the MOLIT’s second vice minister with related agencies to maintain information sharing and cooperation among institutions.

The plan is to minimize logistics damage by deploying available alternative transportation equipment and personnel to the fullest extent, including the use of government-commissioned official cargo trucks and flexible increases in cargo trains.

Additionally, the government will actively implement road towing (transporting vehicles for sale by driving them), and mobilize alternative transportation means by industry, such as temporarily operating yard tractors?container handling equipment?on roads.

Compensation will be provided for vehicle damages caused by illegal acts of the Cargo Solidarity, and toll exemptions for normally operating vehicles as well as permits for paid private vehicle transportation will be encouraged to promote participation in transportation.

Alongside the emergency transportation measures, strict actions against illegal activities have been announced.

Police forces will be deployed at logistics hubs such as ports and highway entrances to block illegal acts including obstruction of transportation and unlawful occupation of entry gates.

Regarding illegal acts such as assault, threats, and vehicle damage that obstruct transportation, the police will immediately respond, arrest offenders on-site, and protect transport vehicles, according to MOLIT.

The government held a 'Joint Government Briefing on the Cargo Solidarity’s Collective Refusal to Transport' at the Government Seoul Office on the same day, urging the immediate withdrawal of the collective refusal to transport, which is causing enormous damage to the national economy and citizens’ lives.

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong, who spoke at the briefing, criticized the Cargo Solidarity’s strike, saying, "At a time when everyone’s cooperation is insufficient to overcome the economic downturn, the Cargo Solidarity’s forced collective refusal to transport is a very selfish act that holds the national economy hostage without any legitimacy or justification."

He added, "If this collective refusal to transport without just cause leads to a very serious crisis for the national economy, we will also issue a work commencement order based on the Motor Vehicle Transport Business Act." He warned, "If they do not return to work even after the work commencement order, legal measures will be taken without exception."

Furthermore, he stated, "We will relentlessly pursue and firmly respond with a zero-tolerance policy to illegal acts such as obstruction, threats, and harm against cargo drivers who do not participate in the collective refusal to transport."

Meanwhile, the Cargo Solidarity has entered an indefinite collective refusal to transport, demanding ① prevention of the deterioration of the Safe Freight Rate System, ② abolition of the sunset clause, and ③ expansion of applicable items.

The government, in a briefing by the Prime Minister and related ministers on the 22nd, officially stated that "abolishing the sunset clause and expanding applicable items are difficult" regarding the Safe Freight Rate System and urged the withdrawal of the refusal to transport.

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