l POSCO‧Korea International Trade Association signed a business agreement on 21st to support maritime transportation of SMEs
I POSCO provides unused space on ships to SMEs that do not have transactions with POSCO…starting from the 1st of the upcoming month.
I Expects to be a catalyst for “win-win export logistics” between large domestic companies and SMEs amid a logistics crisis
▲ On the 21st, POSCO and the Korea International Trade Association signed a “small and medium-sized enterprises marine transportation support business agreement” at the Trade Tower in Samsung-dong. From the left, Kwan-sup Lee, Vice Chairman of the Korea International Trade Association(KITA), and Kwang-soo Kim, Head of Logistics Business Unit, POSCO.
POSCO starts to actively support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have been struggling to export due to the recent shortage of ships and a surge in shipping costs.
POSCO (CEO Jeong-woo Choi) and the Korea International Trade Association (Chairman Ja-yeol Koo) signed a “small and medium-sized enterprise’s marine transportation support business agreement” at the Trade Tower in Samsung-dong, Seoul on the 21st, attended by Kwang-soo Kim, Head of Logistics Business Unit of POSCO, Kwan-sup Lee, Vice Chairman of KITA, and Mi-ae Kim, who is in charge of the public-private joint import/export logistics response center in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy
POSCO developed and has been operating a trial of an ‘export logistics Joint platform’ since this year to help small and medium-sized customers ship small amounts of cargo together with POSCO, listening to their difficulties in securing ships in time due to small export volumes and often having to pay relatively high fares which lowers their export competitiveness.
The ‘Export Logistics Joint Platform’ is POSCO’s win-win logistics platform developed to eliminate the hassle of exporting companies wishing to join the shipping company by contacting them frequently to check the shipment schedule and it makes everything from schedule confirmation to joint application possible online at once. During the trial period, the combined amount of customers with POSCO steel products amounts to 40,000 tons.
Through this agreement, POSCO also plans to open its platform to small and medium-sized enterprises that have no direct business relationship with POSCO from the 1st of the upcoming month. POSCO which has signed long-term transportation contracts with major national shipping companies based on a stable export volume of 15 million tons per year, plans to systematically support small and medium-sized Korean companies by actively utilizing the global logistics infrastructure network. The total target cargo is bulk cargo including steel and the transportation area is about 80 ports in seven regions around the world.
Details will be posted this month on POSCO’s e-commerce site, (www.steel-n.com) and the Korea International Trade Association’s homepage (www.kita.net), and wired consulting is also available through Korea International Trade Association Logistics Service Office (02-6000-5754) or Trade Call Center (1566-5114).
This is the first time that large companies have started supporting export logistics for SMEs amid the ongoing global shipping crisis caused by the covid-19, and POSCO expects the cooperation to serve as a catalyst for “win-win export logistics” between large companies and SMEs in Korea.
Kwan-sup Lee, Vice Chairman of KITA said, “With the support from POSCO, we expect that the logistics difficulties of SMEs will be resolved to some extent.” “Starting with this support project, we hope to see more cooperation between large and SMEs in the future,” he added.
Kwang-soo Kim, Head of Logistics Business Unit of POSCO said, “We are pleased that POSCO could join the Korea International Trade Association in overcoming the government’s logistics crisis.” “We will share our years of maritime transportation experience and logistics infrastructure assets with small and medium-sized exporters to contribute to the nation’s trade development and further practice our corporate citizenship management philosophy to grow together with small and medium-sized exporters,” he added.