

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many changes to our lifestyle. Beyond quarantine and health care, it has a huge impact on every aspect of people’s daily lives, including the economy, society, and culture.
As the domestic and international economic and social paradigm has changed, the low growth and low-interest rates that have continued since the 2008 global financial crisis has deepened. Socially, non-face-to-face communication is becoming a common practice, and it is also playing a role in accelerating the transition to the digital economy, deepening imbalance and polarization in all areas by country, industry, and class. However, there are changes that can be viewed positively, such as accelerating the transition to the ESG era in which there are joint responses through recognition of the importance of non-financial values such as the environment and climate.








Korean port and air cargo volume have also recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels, similar to the global volume trend, which is brightening the outlook for 2022.






Looking at the forecast for export growth by industry this year, it is in the order of general machinery/ship (8.1%), electrical/electronics (5.4%), bio/health (2.2%), steel (2.1%), petrochemicals/products (1.7%), and automobile/parts (1.1%). In terms of the number of companies, 58.7% of companies expected their exports to increase, and 41.3% expected to decrease this year compared to the previous year.




On the other hand, companies that expected their exports to decline this year compared to the previous year cited worsening export competitiveness due to domestic institutional factors such as corporate regulations and rising costs (28.9%) and worsening economic conditions in export destination countries (27.6%) as the reasons for the decline.








As risk factors for exports in 2022, the main reasons were the increase in raw material prices (36.4%) and the re-spreading of COVID-19 (33.8%), suggesting that concerns about the stable supply of raw materials and awareness of the dangers of COVID-19 are not diminishing.
In particular, companies have ordered the need for an active government policy on the price stability of raw materials and basic resources to improve domestic export competitiveness in 2022. In order to strengthen export competitiveness, it was surveyed that Korean companies perceive price stability (55.1%) such as raw materials, and dealing with diplomatic issues such as the U.S.-China conflict (15.8%) as the most important issues.






Port cargo volume is expected to rise from 1.5 billion tons in 2020 to 1.58 billion tons in 2021 and 1.65 billion tons in 2022, so it can be inferred that Korean ports are slowly recovering from the impact of COVID-19. However, in the face of increasing global uncertainty, a preemptive response to changing trade patterns seems necessary.
Finally, 3 years have passed since the implementation of the safe trucking freight rates system, but there are still complaints about unclear regulations, such as conflicts occurring in the field. The safe trucking freight rates system is a minimum fare announcement system paid by truck owners and transport operators to improve the working conditions of cargo transport workers and ensure the safety of trucks.
Currently, safe freight rates have been decided and announced through concessions and compromises among industry officials and are being implemented. Since the 3-year sunset system was introduced for safe freight rates, the sunset deadline is approaching this year, and discussions about the direction of the full-fledged operation of the system are expected to begin.
There is urgency in solving the practical problems that have emerged through the 3 years of implementation experience. In addition, if an improvement plan to abolish the sunset system or to extend the deadline is proposed, it seems essential to make a drastic improvement to the existing practice, change the composition of the safe freight rates committee, and clarify its role.
As it consumes time to establish the safe trucking freight rates system, there is a need to thoroughly research and review similar domestic and international cases that are currently in progress. In particular, since alternatives such as persuasion or changing the method can be suggested depending on the effectiveness of the implementation, it is necessary to focus on establishing an appropriate system by recognizing the importance of suggesting improvement measures and future research.
We have observed the export forecast of Korea for 2022, the forecast of domestic port cargo volume trends, and the remaining tasks of the safe freight rates system. Although we have encountered unprecedented challenges such as the unexpected COVID-19, we are gradually recovering from our daily lives by adapting and responding to each field. As always, opportunities will surely present themselves in 2022 for those who are prepared.
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- Professor of Pai Chai University.
- Department of Trade Logistics Former Profiler of National Intelligence Service.
- Logistics Team Leader of Jeonnam Provincial Office.
- and port Team Leader of Seo-san City Hall Participated in research and business in various fields including logistics as an expert in international logistics and shipping