November 25, 2024

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Park Chun-sup, the senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, speaks during a press briefing in Amsterdam, Monday (local time). (Yonhap)

South Korea’s Busan Port Authority will build a cold chain logistics center in the Netherlands by 2027 in order to accelerate food exports to Europe, Seoul’s presidential office said Tuesday.

The Busan Port Authority and its Dutch counterpart, the Rotterdam Port Authority, plan to sign a letter of intent on the new facilities upon President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to the Netherlands.

Under the agreement, Busan’s port operator will lease a site within the Port of Rotterdam to build a cold chain logistics center, South Korea's first in Europe.

“As European consumers’ interest in K-food has increased recently, we expect this center to contribute to the expansion of Korea's fresh food exports to Europe and reduce logistics costs for domestic exporters,” Park Chun-sup, the senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, said during a press briefing in Amsterdam on Monday, local time.

The Port of Rotterdam, the world's 10th largest port by annual cargo traffic, is known as the gateway to Europe and accounts for more than 30 percent of container traffic from South Korea to Europe.

"With the expansion of bilateral trade (between South Korea and the Netherlands), the demand for use (of cold storage) by Korean exporters is increasing," Park said. "The volume of frozen goods bound for Europe is expected to increase up to fourfold by 2030, so it is urgent to secure additional frozen logistics bases in Europe."

By Hwang Joo-young (flylikekite@heraldcorp.com)