Government sends cargo flights for exports to China, Indonesia

The South Korean government said Wednesday it had arranged two chartered cargo flights to help businesses facing difficulties in sending or receiving deliveries to and from China and Indonesia.

The flights were each assigned for delivery to Chongquig in China and Jakarta in Indonesia, the routes of which have been disrupted amidst the coronavirus outbreak.

The measure was jointly prepared by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea International Trade Association.

The roundtrip cargo flight to Chongqing, arranged by CJ Logistics, departed earlier in the day carrying export products, and is set to bring back import goods for 10 local trading firms. For the flight, the companies were charged 75 percent of the ordinary freight fee.

The one-way cargo flight to Jakarta, arranged by K Logistics, was set to depart later in the day carrying export products of eight domestic companies including air purifiers, textiles, protective suits and test kits. Lower freight charge was also applied.

“The emergency freight services using idle passenger planes have been possible because the government, public and private export support groups and export and logistics companies worked together as one team,” Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo said.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com">kbw@heraldcorp.com)