News
Port container traffic in South Korea has risen by 18.3% from in 2010 from the previous year's 16,341 million TEUs to record 19.329 million TEUs. It is a 7.8% increase from 2008, when cargo volume set the record high, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLITM)
As the real economy showed sound recovery in 2010, export and import cargoes (12.333 million TEU) and transhipment cargoes (6.619 million TEUs) have grown 18.9% and 15.7% from the same period of last year, respectively.
Especially, coastal cargoes (376 thousand TEUs) significantly increased by 48.5% thanks to the efforts to promote coastal shipping for green growth.
Cargo volume at Busan Port was 14.18 million TEUs in 2010, which is 18.4% higher than last year. With increased coastal shipping services including the Busan-Pohang route, Busan Port handles 73.6% of total container volume, which is 0.3% increase compared to 2009.
At Kwangyang Port, accumulated cargo volume recorded 2.066 million TEUs in 2010, up 14.1% from a year ago, exceeding 2 million TEUs in 12 years.
At Incheon Port, cargo volume in 2010 increased by 19.6% from last year at 1.887 million TEUs. It handles 96.4% of the total import / export cargo volumes as a key national port in the Seoul Metropolitan Area.
The ministry said, ''import / export cargo volume has increased by 18.9% and transhipment has grown 15.7% setting a new record as the real economy is recovering and the government is making efforts to improve port competitiveness to increase cargo traffic. It is expected that container traffic will reach 20 million TEU in 2011.''
