Samsung SDS buys Woojung Air
Samsung SDS is buying airline space, not profit. Samsung SDS has agreed to buy 100% of Woojung Air, a Korean air consolidator that made KRW3bn operating profit on KRW213.9bn revenue last year (The Loadstar). That is a 1.4% margin. Our view: this deal is about control of airline space and the Incheon terminal, not earnings. Samsung SDS’s own logistics margin was about 1.2% in the first half (Asia Economy). Woojung sells space to more than 1,200 forwarders, and those forwarders will now be buying from a rival. Our call: by end of Q2 2027, Woojung space will be bookable inside Samsung SDS’s Cello Square platform.
Samsung SDS buys Woojung Air to own the space, and Korean forwarders should plan for it
Samsung SDS has signed an agreement to buy 100% of Woojung Air, a South Korean air cargo consolidator. Woojung made KRW3bn of operating profit on KRW213.9bn ($160.5m) of revenue last year, according to The Loadstar. That is an operating margin of about 1.4%. Operating margin means the share of revenue left after the costs of running the business. The price was not disclosed, and the deal is expected to complete by year-end.
Our view is that this is not a deal about earnings. Samsung SDS is buying three things it could not easily build: contracted space on airlines, a working terminal inside Incheon Airport, and a clear view of how cargo moves from the dock to the aircraft. For the 1,200-plus forwarders who buy space from Woojung, that changes who their supplier answers to.
What Woojung does
A consolidator, in air freight, is a wholesaler. It signs space agreements with airlines, then sells that space in smaller lots to forwarders who do not have the volume to deal with the airline directly. It often also builds the shipments into pallets and containers ready for the aircraft. Woojung does all of this. It does not operate aircraft.
The Loadstar reports that Woojung was founded in 1999, handles more than 60,000 tonnes a year and counts more than 1,200 freight forwarders among its customers. Chinese ecommerce logistics firm Cainiao is a reported customer. Its website lists 135 employees. It runs a 20,104 sq m logistics centre in Incheon Airport’s free trade zone, an area where goods can be handled without first clearing Korean customs. The centre handles security screening and the building of pallets and containers.
Korean trade paper Logistics News (물류신문) adds detail. Woojung offers sea-air services, where cargo travels part of the way by ship and is then flown on, and secure truck moves of ULDs (unit load devices, the pallets and containers that go on aircraft). It has a Hong Kong branch. In 2024 it opened what the paper called Korea’s third commercial shipper terminal in the Incheon free trade zone. The paper reported that the deal includes i-Nomad, Woojung’s air cargo platform subsidiary.
Why Samsung SDS wants it
Samsung SDS is best known as the IT services arm of the Samsung group. But logistics is now its biggest business by revenue. Asia Economy reported that logistics brought in KRW7.3864trn in 2025, 53% of the group’s sales, with operating profit of KRW130bn. That is a margin of about 1.8%. In the first half of 2026 it was thinner still: KRW44.1bn profit on KRW3.6977trn of revenue, about 1.2%.
Samsung SDS has said where it wants to go. In January, management said it planned to strengthen its “air freight and contract logistics businesses, which offer more stable profitability compared to ocean logistics”, according to The Loadstar. Contract logistics means running warehouses and supply chain operations for a client under a longer-term agreement.
A 1.4% business will not lift a 1.2% one on its own. Woojung’s revenue is less than 3% of Samsung SDS’s 2025 logistics revenue. So the value has to come from what Woojung lets Samsung SDS do.
Samsung SDS has been clear on that. A Samsung SDS official told ZDNet Korea that the company had previously seen part of its cargo flow only through partners. Once Woojung becomes a subsidiary and the systems are linked, the official said, it can see the cargo from terminal intake through packing, aircraft allocation and loading. The same official said the deal would strengthen its air business not only for cargo leaving Korea but also for Asian cargo moving through Incheon to North America and other regions.
That transit point matters. A consolidator with airline space and a terminal at Incheon is a useful piece of any flow that routes Asian cargo through the airport to North America.
Then there is the platform. Samsung SDS sells forwarding through Cello Square, its digital booking platform. The Loadstar reports that the two companies have worked together since 2022. Logistics News says that cooperation began with an agreement to exchange information between Cello Square and i-Nomad. ZDNet Korea reports that i-Nomad will now be linked to Cello Square.
Logistics News also gave context on the seller’s side. It reported that Woojung had come under financial strain from building its Incheon facility, as cargo demand came in weaker than expected. It also noted that earlier reports of Samsung SDS buying a foreign air cargo firm had come to nothing. Read together, this looks like a buyer that wanted an air business and a seller that needed a stronger owner.
Woojung’s chief executive put a brighter face on it. “Woojung has gained new wings, called Samsung SDS, built on the proud history it has forged,” Joon Suk Yim said in a message to employees, as quoted by Korean publication Cargo Press and reported by The Loadstar. A Samsung SDS official told ZDNet Korea there would be no major changes to Woojung’s management or staff in the short term. Logistics News said the Woojung brand will be kept.
The neutrality problem
This is where forwarders should pay attention. Woojung’s customers are forwarders. Samsung SDS is a forwarder too, and it sells to shippers who might otherwise use those same customers.
The Loadstar put the question directly: “Whether those customers continue to regard Woojung as a neutral supplier”. We think the honest answer is that some will not.
Neutrality is easy to promise in a soft market. It gets tested in peak season, when airline space is tight and a consolidator has to decide whose cargo flies tonight and whose waits. When the consolidator’s owner has its own freight and its own shipper contracts, the pressure runs one way. Even if Samsung SDS treats every customer fairly, forwarders will also worry about data. A consolidator sees who is shipping what, where and at what rate. Once that sits inside a competitor’s group, some forwarders will not want to hand it over.
Samsung SDS is not alone in buying up the capacity it depends on. The Loadstar points to two recent moves by large groups. JD Logistics raised its ownership of Chinese logistics firm Deppon to about 99.7%, after first taking control in 2022. In India, the supply chain arm of TVS agreed to buy Swamy & Sons, taking an initial 80% stake in May. Big groups with captive volume want to own the capacity under it.
What forwarders and shippers should do
For Korean forwarders who buy wholesale air space from Woojung, the practical step is to avoid single sourcing. Line up a second consolidator, or push for direct allocations with airlines where your volume allows it. Do this before the next peak, not during it.
Watch the contract terms at renewal. Changes to minimum volumes, payment terms or how space is allocated at short notice will tell you more than any public statement about neutrality.
Think about data. Ask what booking and shipper data Woojung will share with Samsung SDS once the systems are linked, and get the answer in writing.
For shippers, especially electronics shippers out of Korea, this may bring a more joined-up offer. Samsung SDS will be able to sell door-to-door air, sea-air through Incheon, and terminal handling under one roof. Logistics News expects Samsung SDS to build a stronger position in Incheon sea-air, since it is already strong in ocean freight. That could put pressure on rates for that product as Samsung SDS bundles it.
For rival consolidators in Korea, this is a sales opportunity. Some of Woojung’s 1,200 forwarder customers will be open to a second supplier. Those who can offer comparable space out of Incheon should be calling them now.
Our prediction
We expect the deal to close by 31 December, as planned. By the end of Q2 2027, we expect Woojung’s space and rates to be bookable inside Cello Square, as the i-Nomad link goes live. We also expect Samsung SDS’s logistics operating margin to stay below 2% through 2027. Woojung is too small to move it much, and the payoff, if it comes, will show in volume and control rather than in the margin line. And within a year of closing, we expect at least some of Woojung’s larger forwarder customers to have shifted part of their wholesale buying to other consolidators or direct airline deals. That shift is the real test of whether a forwarder-owned consolidator can stay neutral.
Sources