President Lee Jae-myung maintained "emergency mode" on Thursday, visiting a logistics site even as the Middle East conflict reached a dramatic agreement on a two-week ceasefire that provided temporary relief. The president mentioned measures including loan support for small business owners, saying he would "review whether there are additional steps to take" for the freight transport and logistics industry.
President Lee visited the Uiwang Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Gyeonggi Province for a field roundtable under the theme "Beyond the Unwavering Logistics Crisis to the Future" with truck owners, delivery drivers, transport company officials, and logistics experts.
"Due to the Middle East conflict, oil price increases have been significant, and the transport industry, especially the freight transport sector, seems to be facing considerable difficulties," President Lee said at the meeting. "Truck owners who actually handle transportation must also be struggling considerably."
"The government has been taking various measures including announcing maximum oil price standards, but the difficulties felt in the field may not have been sufficiently resolved," he continued. "I will listen to your opinions and review together whether there are additional measures to take."
During the roundtable, participants poured out their grievances about being directly hit by rising oil prices. When one truck owner said that "vehicle values exceed 300 million won, making it difficult to obtain small business loans," President Lee instructed relevant ministries to "review loan support that can be provided at low interest rates."
Regarding requests to expand the items covered by the Safe Freight Rate System, he noted that systems differ by country and directed the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to carefully examine transportation costs by item category and overseas cases.
When a freight transport company raised difficulties about logistics warehouses being pushed to the outskirts due to high rents and land shortages in the Seoul metropolitan area, he said, "There are also situations where land exists but cannot be used properly, causing problems," and instructed them to "consult well with local governments, as abandoned land becomes a headache for them anyway."
A site inspection followed immediately after the roundtable. President Lee checked the facility's operational status and changes in cargo volume due to rising oil prices. He particularly encouraged officials after hearing that not a single safety accident had occurred at the facility in the past five years, saying, "You have managed safety very thoroughly."
Meanwhile, the Presidential Office plans to maintain its response posture, including continued operation of the Emergency Economic Situation Room, despite the ceasefire being achieved.