DEVELOPMENT
All facilities to date, with the exception of the aviation infrastructure, have been built by the airlines and private investors under the terms of BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer), BTO (Build-Transfer-Operate) and BTS (Build-to-Suit) contracts ranging from 12 to 20 years. Incheon’s logistics park opened in 2006 in a bid to make the airport more of an attractive proposition for transit cargo arriving from China and travelling between South Korea and Europe, North America and Southeast Asia. Some of the biggest users of the logistics park are Sony and Korean firms LG and Samsung, both of which own large manufacturing plants in western China and use Incheon to export their products to the US, Europe and other countries across Asia.
In many cases the goods arriving from China and destined for the US arrive by sea from Hong Kong and Shanghai and are trucked to the airport from Incheon port before being uplifted out of the country. Top imports at the airport include computers, semiconductors, vehicle parts, and high-tech machinery, while flat-screen TVs, mobile phones, car parts, cameras and other optical equipment represent a large slice of the export market. “We want to build up and expand our logistics park by adding more facilities and tenants to increase Incheon’s importance as a global distribution centre,” admits Jung. “We want to attract more international companies, especially from the IT and high-tech industries, to set up operations here and possibly undertake some light manufacturing operations.”
Both the cargo terminal area and the logistics park are located within Incheon’s dedicated Free Trade Zone (FTZ), which was established upon the gateway’s opening.
Benefits of the FTZ for third party logistics providers include tax-free storage and the ability to perform repackaging activities, assembly and the light manufacture of imported goods on site.
Its facilities and network ensure that Korean Air is the biggest cargo operator at Incheon in terms of tonnage, accounting for some 52.8% of all shipments passing through the airport. Fellow Korean carrier, Asiana, is the second largest
operator, with a 22.7% market share followed by UPS (1.6%), Cathay Pacific (1.5%), Polar (1.5%) and FedEx (1.5%).
Technology Incheon’s Air Cargo Information System (AIRCIS) is believed to be one of the most sophisticated in the world. The 100% online and paperless system allows forwarders to book, check and track shipments and generate electronic airway bills. Other pioneering IT systems include UNI-PASS, the world’s first 100% online clearance system. Its benefits
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include export clearance within two minutes, import clearance within 2.5 minutes and tax payment within 10 hours.
The introduction of RFID technology in 2010 for tracking 95% of all imported goods has helped reduce processing times by up to three hours.
Future growth
So what can Incheon ultimately achieve as a cargo airport? “We have the potential to become one of the world’s leading global distribution centres for high-value
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