Air Oct 13, 2026 · 7 min read

Samsung SDS buys Woojung Air

Samsung SDS buys the air space 1,200 forwarders rely on. Samsung SDS has agreed to buy 100% of Woojung Air, an Incheon air consolidator that handles more than 60,000 tonnes a year for over 1,200 forwarders, The Loadstar reports. No price was given. Our view: the buyers of Woojung’s space now buy from a rival. Woojung made ₩3bn operating profit on ₩213.9bn revenue last year, about 1.4%. In January, Samsung SDS said it planned to strengthen air freight, citing “more stable profitability compared to ocean logistics”. Forwarders should line up a second source of Incheon space now. We expect at least one rival Korean consolidator to change hands or sign a platform tie-up by mid-2027.

Samsung SDS is buying the neutral air supplier its forwarding rivals depend on

Samsung SDS has agreed to buy 100% of Woojung Air, a wholesale air consolidator at Incheon. Woojung handles more than 60,000 tonnes a year and sells to more than 1,200 freight forwarders, The Loadstar reported on 12 October. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2026. Neither side has given a price.

Most forwarders outside Korea have never heard of Woojung. More than 1,200 forwarders buy from it. That is the point of this story.

What Woojung does, and why it matters

Woojung is a consolidator. It does not fly planes. It signs contracts with airlines for fixed blocks of space, then splits that space and sells it to forwarders. A small forwarder with a few pallets a week cannot get good airline rates on its own. A consolidator pools hundreds of those small forwarders into one big customer the airline cares about.

A 2022 Samsung SDS press release described Woojung as a firm that rents set cargo space on aircraft under airline contracts. Air Cargo News lists its services as consolidation, booking, loading, customs clearance, regulated agent services (security screening that cargo must pass before it can fly) and real-time tracking. It runs a 20,104 sq m logistics centre in the Incheon Airport free trade zone, an area where goods can be stored and handled without paying import duty, according to The Loadstar. It was founded in 1999 and lists 135 staff on its website. The Loadstar says its reported customers include Chinese e-commerce logistics company Cainiao.

The buyer is not a neutral party. Samsung SDS is the IT and logistics arm of the Samsung group. It sells forwarding to shippers directly, including through Cello Square, its online platform for booking and tracking freight.

Our view: a supplier just became a competitor

Our view is that this deal changes Woojung from a supplier into a rival for many of its own customers. Forwarders bought from Woojung because it did not compete with them for shippers. From next year, the company selling them space will be owned by a group that also competes for those shippers.

That raises three questions every Woojung customer should be asking: - Who at Samsung SDS can see my bookings, my lanes and my rates? - Will Woojung still give me space at peak season, when Samsung’s own shippers want the same planes? - Will my price stay the same, or will Samsung’s own business get the best blocks first?

The Loadstar puts the stakes plainly. Whether those customers “continue to regard Woojung as a neutral supplier could help determine” how much of the business Samsung keeps.

The numbers behind the deal

Start with Woojung’s own figures. It posted revenue of ₩213.9bn ($160.5m) and operating profit of ₩3bn last year, according to The Loadstar. Operating profit is what a business makes from its core work before interest and tax. That works out to a margin of about 1.4%. In plain terms, Woojung kept about 1.4 won from every 100 won it took in.

That is thin, even for a consolidator. Samsung is not buying a profit machine. In our view, it is buying three things: airline contracts, a big pool of forwarder volume, and a warehouse at the airport.

Now the buyer. Samsung SDS reported second-quarter revenue of ₩3.7178trn, up 5.9% year on year, Edaily reported on 30 July. Logistics was ₩1.9553trn of that, up 6.6%. Logistics made up about 53% of Samsung SDS’s sales in the quarter, by our calculation. Edaily’s report says the growth “was driven by growth in air freight forwarding and contract logistics focused on inland transport and warehousing.” Group operating profit rose only 0.7%, to ₩231.8bn.

By our maths, Woojung’s yearly revenue is about 11% of what Samsung SDS logistics took in during a single quarter. This is a bolt-on, not a transformation. But it is a bolt-on aimed squarely at air.

Samsung has been clear about that aim. In January, management said it planned to strengthen “air freight and contract logistics businesses, which offer more stable profitability compared to ocean logistics”, The Loadstar reported. Ocean forwarding margins swing hard with container rates. Air contracts, especially block space with steady customers, tend to move less.

This has been coming since 2022

None of this came out of nowhere. In June 2022, Samsung SDS and Woojung signed a memorandum of understanding (a non-binding cooperation agreement). Under it, Woojung’s real-time tracking and freight rate data went into Cello Square, according to Samsung SDS’s press release from the time and Air Cargo News. The pair also planned to build air services to help Korean e-commerce sellers reach the US, Japan, Australia and Brazil.

At the time, Samsung SDS framed the deal as cooperation with smaller Korean logistics firms. Its logistics chief said it wanted to build win-win partnerships with specialist small and mid-sized companies. Four years later, it is buying one of them outright.

The plan after closing follows the same path. Woojung’s terminal and its own digital platform, iNOMAD, will be linked with Cello Square and Samsung’s network “to improve automation and airfreight competitiveness”, The Loadstar reported. That means Woojung’s booking flow, and the forwarder data inside it, will sit next to Samsung’s own forwarding platform.

Woojung’s boss is upbeat. CEO Joon Suk Yim told staff: “Woojung has gained new wings, called Samsung SDS, built on the proud history it has forged,” according to The Loadstar.

Part of a wider pattern

Samsung is not alone. Big groups are buying the parts of the chain they used to rent. The Loadstar set the deal next to two others: JD Logistics raising its stake in Chinese freight firm Deppon to about 99.7%, and TVS Motor’s supply chain arm agreeing to buy an initial 80% of Swamy & Sons in India.

The logic is the same in each case. Owning the capacity, the warehouse and the customer data is worth more than buying them from someone else. For a group that also owns a booking platform, adding a consolidator’s volume makes the platform more useful to everyone who logs in.

Our view is that air consolidators are now an obvious target. They hold airline contracts that took years to build. They have hundreds of small forwarder customers. And their thin margins keep prices low for a buyer with deeper pockets.

What forwarders should do now

For forwarders buying space from Woojung, nothing changes on day one. The deal has not closed, and Samsung will want to keep the volume. But the next few months are the time to prepare.

First, check your data. Ask Woojung in writing who will see your booking and rate data after closing, and whether it will be kept apart from Samsung SDS’s own forwarding sales. Get the answer before you sign next year’s contracts.

Second, keep a second source. If most of your Incheon air space comes from Woojung, line up another consolidator or a direct airline allocation now. Do it before the year-end peak, not during it.

Third, watch peak-season behaviour. The real test of neutrality comes when space is tight. If Samsung’s own shippers start getting priority, you will see it first in late cut-offs and short-shipped pallets.

For shippers, the deal may be good news. Samsung SDS customers should get more reliable air space out of Korea and better tracking through Cello Square. Shippers who use smaller forwarders should ask those forwarders where their space comes from.

For rival consolidators in Korea, this is an opening. Some of Woojung’s 1,200-plus customers will want an alternative that is still independent. Expect them to pitch hard on exactly that point.

Our prediction

Our call is that Samsung SDS will keep the Woojung name and run it as a separate unit through at least the end of 2027. It needs those 1,200 forwarders more than it needs a new logo. We expect it to make a public promise about data separation for forwarder customers within three months of closing.

We also expect at least one more Korean air consolidator to be bought by a larger logistics or platform group, or to sign a formal tie-up with one, by mid-2027. Once one big group owns wholesale air space at Incheon, its rivals will not want to keep renting theirs.

Sources