Invest KOREA

The cargo traffic handled at Korean seaports is forecast to post a 5.1 percent year-on-year increase this year to 23.65 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit), said the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs last Thursday (MLTM).

The largest seaport in the country, Busan Port, responsible for handling three quarters of the domestic container traffic, is aiming at processing 18 million TEUs in 2013, up 5.7 percent from a year earlier. The volume of export-import cargo is expected to record 9.042 million TEUs while that of transshipment cargo record 8.885 TEUs.

Another Korean port Gwangyang Port is aiming at posting a record high 2.3 million TEUs in container traffic since its opening, up 7.1 percent on-year, by operating new sea routes and attracting more transshipment cargoes.

Incheon Port and Pyeongtaek-Dangjin Port also raised their target for container cargo handling to 2.02 million TEUs and 550,000 TUEs, respectively, up 2.4 percent and 7.9 percent on-year.

“Considering the global economy showing signs of recovery and favorable domestic and overseas economic outlooks, container cargo handling this year is projected to maintain last year’s growth,” said an MLTM official. “We will ramp up efforts to meet the targets by facilitating the passage of transshipment cargoes and developing logistics complexes in domestic seaports.”

Source: Yonhap News (Feb. 21, 2013)

** This is the translation of a Korean article.