A container carrying the cargo is imported and used to be transferred to the shipper. And then empty container can be temporarily kept in a storage or can be continuously exported by loading cargoes. Due to the global economic recession and decreased national export, though this container circulation is very typical, most of containers tend to be stored in returned container space not to be re-exported. So this means the problem that container is not properly circulated.
Especially in a large-scale demand area like Seoul metropolitan area and Gyeonggi area(in this study, we called this “Gyeongin” region), empty container is returned to the Uiwang or Incheon. However, these two empty container storage regions have problems because of their regional characteristics and lots of complex reasons. Specifically there are some problems for returning empty container in Gyeongin Area such as“Operational problem of storage” means the unequal distribution of container from the region tendency by the ebb and flow of the tide, “Overcharge phenomenon of storage” which is occurred by export shortage and unbalanced empty container supply and demand, and “Inefficient cost problem”which occurs in several places including the shipper.
Therefore this study focused on the problem of empty container return process in Uiwang and Incheon, and proposed solutions reflecting the actual container transportation environments for empty container return process. To identify the reasons of container transport related parties’ preference and choice between Uiwang and Incheon as the return empty container place, a survey was conducted. In addition, to analyze the utility and cost between Uiwang and Incheon, this study used a number of container transport case(data) to Uiwang or Incheon of anonymous logistics company. Consequently it was possible to understand fundamental cause of empty container return process in Gyeongin region and, on the basis of this, to present solutions.