News
It is estimated that a total of 22.497 million TEUs of containerized shipments were handled at South Korean ports in 2012, according to the nation’s Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM).
The total went up 4.1% year on year from 21.611 million TEUs to reach an all-time high and exceeded 20 million TEUs for the second consecutive year.
Major contributing factors included an increase in the throughput of transshipment cargoes at the Port of Busan and an improvement in the capacity of the Port of Kwangyang.
In December 2012, imports and exports of containers to and from South Korea totaled 13.664 million TEUs, growing 1.9% from a year earlier.
Transshipment cargoes swelled 9.5% to 8.45 million TEUs, but coastal cargoes plunged 19.8% to 468,000 TEUs due to a slump in domestic demand.
Busan processed 17.03 million TEUs in 2012, which hiked 5.2% year on year.
Transshipment cargoes surged 10.2% from 7.48 million TEUs to 8.1 million TEUs?as an increasing number of global carriers began calling Busan for transship containers?helping the busiest container port in South Korea defend its title as the world’s second-largest transshipment hub.
