News
South Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy unveiled last week a project for building up a global milk run infrastructure for autoparts with its neighboring nations of Japan and China in a bid to strengthen international competitiveness of the industry and boost overseas supplies of automobile components.
Under the planned milk run logistics where autoparts stuffed in a container will be loaded on a trailer and sent to a final destination using ferries, suppliers will be able to receive the container intact and pick up necessary components from the automakers directly and timely. This system will also allow faster deliveries as it would not require time-consuming procedures and cargo handlings at container terminals, thus cutting time and costs. Transit time from South Korea to Japan would be cut to four days instead of the current 30 days, the ministry said.
For the full-fledged operation of the milk run, South Korea and Japan must sign a bilateral agreement which would allow reciprocal trailer haulage of the partners in their respective lands. China and South Korea had signed a milk run pact in November last year and will start the project from the end of this year.
