LG Uplus arrives in freight delivery business

LG Uplus will release a freight delivery platform dubbed ″Freight it-go″ this month. [LG UPLUS]

LG Uplus is the latest mobile carrier to enter the freight delivery business to digitalize the sector with the release of its own platform designed to function as a middleman between carriers and freight brokers.

Dubbed “Freight it-go” in Korean, the platform will be released sometime this month to connect for-hire carriers and freight brokers within hub-to-hub delivery. When a broker registers a shipment order on a website, carriers can check and choose the order on an app based on the cargo size and location.

Hub-to-hub delivery refers to the middle stage of transportation of goods and cargo between distribution centers, warehouses or regional hubs.

LG Uplus has formed partnership with local logistics companies such as Kangdong Logistics and dver to help the platform settle quickly into the infrastructure. The carrier has also formed a partnership with Shinhan Card so that carriers can receive its order-by-order shipments within a day or two.

Before, it used to take a maximum of a month for the carriers to receive payments.

“Before, freight brokers and carriers would have to communicate every order via a phone call, and organize every one of them through an excel file,” said Kahng Jong-oh, LG Uplus’s vice president of the smart mobility business unit, at a press event in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Monday. “Utilizing the platform will drastically shorten that process.

“The platform also consists of in-house developed navigation service tailored for carriers. Real-time data on the shortcut to reach one’s destination will be provided, as the navigation advices the truckers on roads, bridges or tunnels to avoid due to their height and width limitations.”

LG Uplus aims to generate more than 150 billion won ($110 million) in the freight delivery business within the next three years. The local market currently has no dominant leaders despite the market size capped at 37 trillion won, according to 2020 data from Statistics Korea.

As a result, other IT companies and mobile carriers have been jumping into the bandwagon.

KT released freight matching platform Brokarry in May 2022 which has more than 10,000 truckers and 160 shippers.

SK Telecom is servicing a similar matchup platform dubbed “Tmap Freight” with Tmap navigation service from earlier this year.

Kakao Mobility’s “Kakao T Trucker” is also scheduled for release sometime this month.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]