Incheon Int'l Airport Tops
10 Mil. Tons in Cargo Volume

Strives to establish itself as a logistics hub in Northeast Asia

Incheon International Airport has witnessed its accumulative international freight volume topping the 10 million ton mark in six years since its opening.
Incheon International Airport ranks third in terms of international freight handling volume, trailing Hong Kong International Airport and Narita International Airport since its opening in March 2001, said Im Joo-bin, director of the Aviation Policy Division at the Ministry of Construction and Transportation said.
Figures released by Incheon International Airport Authority (IIAA) showed that the accumulative cargo volume handled by Incheon International Airport surged from 2.89 million tons in 2002 to 6.86 million tons in 2004, and the figure finally surpassed the 10 million ton mark on June 15. It means that the airport has handled a daily average of 5, 250 tons.
The airport's daily cargo transportation volume soared from 4,281 tons in 2001 to 5,045 tons in 2003, 5,890 tons in 2005 and to 6,090 tons in 2006.
Kansai International Airport is one of Incheon International Airport's archrivals as the Japanese airport topped the accumulative freight volume of 8 million tons last month since its opening in 1994.
In particular, Changi International Airport in Singapore, one of the world-class airports, accounted for 96 percent of the cargo volume handled by Incheon International Airport during 2001, but the difference between Changi and Incheon airports widened to 83-85 percent of Incheon's in 2004 and thereafter.
A look into the cargo items handled at Incheon International Airport indicates that the airport bears comparison with others as a hub port in Northeast Asia with the majority of the volume handled being high-tech products like Korea's mainstay products, including semiconductors and latest wireless communication gadgets.
The international cargo handled at Incheon International Airport takes up a paltry 0.1 percent portion of Korea's total international freight volume,
but surprisingly, Incheon International Airport accounted for one-third of Korea's total annual value of imports and exports or $15.87 billion, more than $15.65 billion for Busan Port.
As part of its efforts to make Incheon International Airport a logistics hub port, IIAA is putting more energy into attracting such multinational logistics corporations as Fedex, UPS, DHL and TNT as the occupants of the Incheon International Airport Corporation Free Trade Zone (IIACFTZ) that was opened to cargo traffic last March. The IIACFTZ encompasses a cargo terminal covering 330,000 pyeong and a logistics complex of 300,000 pyeong. IIAA is striving to attract international giant forwarders and SCM to the logistics complex.
If it becomes operational at full capacity in 2010, the IIACFTZ is expected to handle an additional 1 million tons of freight, creating an approximately 700 billion won in added value and more than 10,000 jobs.
An airport town in the neighborhood of Incheon International Airport is under development to accommodate such facilities as aviation repair shops, parts industries, exclusive aircraft terminal and Asia-Pacific offices of international aviation organizations.
A plan to develop an area designed to accommodate such high-tech industries as IT and biotechnology and support R&D activities is under way.
IIAA President Lee Jae-hee said, "Under a diverse logistics complex strategy, Incheon International Airport aims to upgrade itself as the second international cargo transportation airport in the world by 2008."The airport is forecast to top the 20 million ton mark in the accumulative cargo transportation volume in 2009, he added.
However, experts say that IIAA has to aggressively attract such added-value industries as parts assembly in the IIACFTZ and production in the neighborhood of IIACFTZ as well as cargo logistics companies in a bid to establish Incheon International Airport as an international logistics hub port. nw

Im Joo-bin, director of the Aviation Policy Division at the MOCT

Incheon Int'l Airport strives to become a logistics hub of Northeast Asia as it has topped 10 million tons in accumulative cargo volume.