S.Korea breaks into World Bank's global logistics top 20 list for 1st time

South Korea’s logistics performance has ranked 17th in the world, marking its first entry into the top 20 nations, as assessed by the World Bank.

Together with the US, Korea received 3.8 in the logistics performance index (LPI), according to the bank’s LPI report for 2023. The country ranked the world's 25th in the last report in 2018.

The World Bank has announced the indices every other year since 2007, excluding the pandemic era between 2019 and 2022. The new report covers 139 nations based on evaluations of six factors: customs, infrastructure, international shipments, logistics competence and quality, timeliness and tracking and tracing.

Korea rebounded this year after a steady decline over the past nine years. Its ranking, 21st in 2014, fell to 24th in 2016 and 25th in 2018.

The rise through the ranks was led by the country’s infrastructure and customs, which scored ninth and seventh, respectively. The infrastructure ranking was enhanced by two main gateways, the Port of Busan and Incheon International Airport. 

Busan ranked the world’s seventh container port in total sea cargo traffic with 21.7 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2021, according to data from French research firm Alphaliner last year.

Incheon International Airport was the world’s second-busiest cargo airport in 2021, handling 3.2 million tons of cargo, the Airports Council International (ACI) stated last year.

Korea’s customs process has also improved with its homegrown electronic clearance system and artificial intelligence-based baggage scanners, the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) said.

The indices for tracking and timeliness fell below the top 20, indicating low competitiveness. Policy improvements and private sector investments are needed for digital transformation of the logistics industry, a KCCI official said. 

In addition to Korea, other Asian nations on the world's top 20 list were Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and China.

Singapore topped the index this year, compared with seventh in 2018. Hong Kong’s ranking rose to seventh from 12th during the same period.

Taiwan leaped from the world’s 27th in 2018 to 13th this year, while China jumped from 25th to 19th. Japan’s index fell from fourth to 13th over the past five years.  

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang at hjs@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.