Korea-China container trade to get fast

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs(MLTM) said that the Agreement between Korea and China on Sea-land Intermodal Freight Cars Transportation signed on September 7 will take effect on November 24.

Under the agreement, container transportation between the two countries will become fast and seamless since containers will be loaded on trailers and carried by car ferries, and thus there will be no loading and unloading processes at ports.

It will reduce transport cost by 49.5$ per TEU and time by 3.5 hours without transshipment, which makes the transportation of emergency cargo and hazardous materials more effective and less harmful.

In addition, the Ministry will start a trial project that puts RFID tags on Korea trailers for efficient management of cargo transport. RFID readers will be installed in Incheon, Pyeongtaek and Gunsan ports to manage trailers in and out of ports and the operation system will be developed by DTC (container carrier) and MLTM.

RFID tags will enable Korea and China to manage container transport more efficiently and trace the movement of each trailer on both ways. It is also expected that RFID will be useful for customs procedures as identification of each trailer will become more convenient with RFID tags.<Korea Shipping Gazette>