A water cannon truck works to suppress a fire at a Coupang Inc logistics center in Seoknam-dong, Seohaegu, Incheon, on Monday morning. [Herald DB]
A water cannon truck works to suppress a fire at a Coupang Inc logistics center in Seoknam-dong, Seohaegu, Incheon, on Monday morning. [Herald DB]

A fire at a Coupang Inc logistics center in Incheon has intensified calls to overhaul safety management systems at warehouses across the retail and e-commerce industry. Experts say fire-prevention frameworks need to be upgraded to reflect the characteristics of the large-scale logistics facilities that have proliferated amid fierce competition over delivery speeds.

According to industry sources Wednesday, e-commerce and third-party logistics companies have been pushing to build ever-larger warehouses as they expand automated equipment to boost delivery efficiency. High-spec facilities with a single-floor area of at least 15,000 square meters and high ceilings — suited to automated conveyor systems and logistics robots — are increasingly in demand.

In the Chungcheong region, which offers strong access to the Greater Seoul area, major companies including Coupang Inc and Daiso have been building large logistics hubs in rapid succession. The total floor area of logistics centers in the region grew roughly 90 percent in four years, from 2.1 million square meters in 2021 to 3.99 million square meters at the end of last year.

Lotte Mart is also developing a 42,000-square-meter robot- and AI-driven automated logistics facility in Busan — a customer fulfillment center called "Zeta Smart Center" — in partnership with British firm Ocado.

The industry expects the trend of consolidating previously dispersed logistics operations into large regional hubs to continue, as companies seek to cut delivery times and reduce logistics costs.

Coupang Inc currently operates more than 200 fulfillment centers across some 30 cities nationwide. CJ Logistics, Hanjin and Lotte Global Logistics each run around 200 logistics centers of their own. Among hypermarket operators, E-mart handles online and offline orders through five logistics centers, while Lotte Mart operates two.

As logistics centers grow larger, the importance of safety management has grown with them. According to the National Fire Agency's 2025 Fire Statistics Yearbook, 20 major fires broke out at logistics centers over the five-year period from 2021 to 2025, accounting for 26 percent of all major fires during that period.

Retailers and logistics companies have been strengthening safety management — operating control rooms with real-time monitoring, running in-house fire brigades, and conducting joint inspections and drills with fire authorities. However, once a fire breaks out at a logistics center, as seen in the Coupang Incheon blaze, the sheer size of the space, the density of stored goods and the complexity of internal layouts make early containment extremely difficult. Large facilities hold vast quantities of goods across wide areas, meaning fires can take a long time to extinguish and the scale of damage can be significant.

With an investigation into the exact cause of the fire still underway, experts say the industry must not only ensure compliance with tightened fire codes but also strengthen fire-prevention frameworks that account for the unique characteristics of mega-scale logistics facilities.

The Zeta Smart Center in Busan, set to open next month, has prepared tailored fire-prevention measures to match its automated robot systems — including additional robot-specific fire extinguishers and fire-suppression blankets. The center also forgoes a mezzanine structure, making early suppression via sprinklers more effective.

Calls are also growing to review stronger safety management measures for existing logistics facilities. According to the National Logistics Integrated Information Center, 4,325 of the 5,948 registered logistics warehouse facilities nationwide — or 72.7 percent — were registered before tightened fire safety standards took effect in 2024. The stricter standards do not, in principle, apply retroactively to existing facilities.

In response, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport convened a meeting Monday involving the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the National Fire Agency, the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, private-sector experts and logistics industry representatives, agreeing to establish a task force on improving fire safety regulations for logistics facilities.


spa@heraldcorp.com