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S. Korea's freight services not disrupted after record snowfall
SEOUL, Jan. 5 (Yonhap) -- Freight services in South Korea were largely unaffected Tuesday by the heavy snowfall that gripped the country a day earlier, government officials said.
"It was fortunate for us that the cargo volume in the beginning of a year is traditionally half that of normal days," said an official at the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs. "We believe that damage to the country's logistics services will be minimal."
Record-breaking snowfall pounded Seoul and neighboring areas Monday, causing major travel chaos in and around the capital city and triggering a mass cancellation of domestic flights.
A total of 27.8 centimeters of snow was measured in Seoul as of 4 p.m. Monday, marking the highest precipitation the nation has seen in a single day since it began tracking such data in 1937, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).
International air shipping from the Incheon International Airport, located in the western outskirts of Seoul, remained unaffected by the record snow falls, as all the scheduled international flights were normalized after delays of several hours.
Inland freight services were recovering from paralysis caused by Monday's snow storm, with container carriers, tank lorries and cargo cranes running on most high ways, industry officials said.
Parcel-delivery services, which were hit worst, saw 80 percent of transportation resumed. Five or six out of every 10 shipping vehicles were reported to have been trapped in the snow on Monday. Shippers expected it would take two to three days until services fully normalize, according to the delivery companies.
Cargo working has also resumed in the five harbors of Incheon, Donghae, Gunsan, Pyeongtaek and Daesan, speeding up in unloading containers.
Shipping on railways, however, was halved from usual times, staying at the level of the previous day, railway operators said.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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