The Way the Freight Forwarders Go

It is generally known that freight forwarders have worked hard and ass
umed important positions in transportation, but they have not acquired
a corresponding reputation with outsiders. Freight forwarders, introd
uced in the early 1970's, have played important roles in trading trans
portation. In 1987 when the permission system changed over to the regi
ster system, the number of freight forwarders increased geometrically,
causing each company's piece of the pie to shrink. Even though small
businesses didn't care to go into the red in order to catch customers,
the number of businesses is now over 2000.
Moreover, foreign freight forwarders are allowed to participate in the
freight forwarding industry, so with over 2000 freight forwarding bus
inesses and foreign competition, one could safely guess that this has
radically intensified competition among freight forwarders. Many domes
tic forwarders have faced hard struggles with other well-known interna
tional freight forwarders.
Also, legislation was revised so that freight forwarders could handle
both sea and air transportation. However, the government officials in
the Ministry of Construction and Transportation who took charge of thi
s were not knowledgeable about the industry, causing an absence of dec
ent policies and general disorder.
Recently, co-loading businesses have had conflicting opinions about th
e severe rate competition. One party wanted rates to be under the cont
rol of the market, while another party insisted that market rates wil
l kill freight forwarders and drive them into difficulties. Now the Ko
rea International Freight Forwarders Association is seeking solutions
to these difficult situations, but it's not easy.
It is expected that the common opinions, however, will be gathered in
the course of discussions and will contribute to further developments.