A military transport plane took off from Gimhae Airport on the evening of the 10th and left for an emergency airlift of 27,000 liters of urea from Australia. The Air Force’s multi-purpose aerial refueling aircraft, the Cygnus KC-330, is scheduled to return as early as tonight with urea water from Australia. However, 27,000 liters is less than 5% of domestic daily consumption, so it does not seem to be of much help in resolving the urea water crisis. Right now, gas stations are worried that even the tank lorry that carries oil will not be able to secure oil to supply to ordinary cars in time if it stops because it cannot obtain urea water. The situation is so urgent right now that short-term measures are needed, but there are many voices that long-term and fundamental measures must be taken to prevent such a situation from happening again.
First, reporter Kim Ji-ah reports.
[기자]
At around 7:25 pm yesterday evening, the Air Force transport aircraft KC-330 ‘Cygnus’ headed for Australia.
This is to bring 27,000 liters of urea water.
The Cygnus is a transport aircraft that was used in the ‘Operation Miracle’ that brought Afghan helpers to Korea.
The takeoff of the transport plane was delayed by about two and a half hours due to negotiations with airspace.
Considering it takes 20 hours round trip to Australia, Australian urea water will arrive in Korea as early as tonight.
However, 27,000 tons of urea water is insufficient to quench the thirst for the current domestic demand for urea water.
This is only 4.5% of the 600,000 liters of urea used in Korea per day.
Lake urea water will be supplied to private ambulances first.
The shortage of urea water is threatening even the operation of vacuum cleaners.
[서울시 쓰레기 수거 대행업체 : (수송용이) 24톤 트럭인데요. 요소수가 한 달에 80~100리터 가량 소모가 되거든요. (지금으로선) 이번 달 말까지 버티기가 힘들 수도 있고요.]
Urea water is also needed for ‘tank lorries’ that deliver oil to gas stations, but if the tank lorry gets stuck due to the difficulty in supplying urea water, it may become difficult for ordinary cars to add oil as well.
The Korea Petroleum Exchange Association has suggested to government departments to include a tank lorry refinery when determining the priority to supply urea water to prevent an ‘oil crisis’.
