The lack of pre-purchase contracts for logistics centers caused by excessive optimism during the pandemic is currently putting a huge burden on the financial sector and developers. At the time, thanks to the explosive growth of e-commerce, asset management companies rushed to sign pre-purchase agreements, but at the time of completion, market demand plummeted and the vacancy rate exceeded 50%. In particular, in the case of low-temperature logistics centers, supplies are far from the actual specifications requested by tenants, and they are recording serious losses, with asset values ​​cut in half. These cases of non-compliance with contracts go beyond a simple decline in asset values ​​and escalate into legal disputes between lenders and developers, increasing anxiety throughout the construction and real estate finance markets.

Despite the macro market chaos, practical survival strategies and efforts to improve the constitution are being carried out simultaneously in the field. The government and local governments are preparing direct cost support measures to ease the burden of logistics costs on companies moving in, while also seeking regulatory innovation to allow idle factories in industrial complexes to be used as warehouses. In addition, port authorities such as Ulsan Port Authority are making berthing standards realistic to minimize logistics disruptions due to political instability in the Middle East and strengthening close support measures to protect the safety and productivity of field workers. These are evaluated as essential measures to secure self-sustaining logistics competitiveness that is not influenced by the volatility of the external environment.

From a technological perspective, the logistics industry is rapidly entering the era of ‘autonomous manufacturing’ and ‘intelligent decision-making’ beyond ‘automation’. Professional organizations such as the Korea Productivity Center are significantly expanding their training courses to strengthen the AI ​​capabilities of international logistics and trade personnel, with the goal of nurturing key talent that goes beyond simple repetitive tasks and automates data analysis and demand forecasting. In the field, we are investing our lives in breaking away from hardware-centered control methods through software-defined automation (SDA) and building a system that connects fragmented data into one so that factories can make their own decisions and optimize in real time. Logistics is no longer just a means of transportation, but is transforming into a core intelligent platform that determines manufacturing competitiveness.

Human resource management and advancement of the working environment have also emerged as important tasks for sustainable growth of the logistics industry. Coupang's logistics affiliates secure future talent by recognizing field work experience as official career experience for college students, while also practicing safety management by operating a systematic health management program for delivery drivers with the participation of professional medical staff. This is an attempt to go beyond simple welfare and solve chronic problems in the field, such as manpower shortages and heat-related illnesses, with technology and systems. Ultimately, competitiveness in the logistics field can only be achieved when technological advancement and worker safety and competency enhancement are organically combined.