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A total of 1,199,980 passengers traveled between Japan and South Korea in ferry services in 2016, which came back to increase 5.8% year on year, according to a report compiled by the latter economy’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on international passenger transport. However, containerized shipments transported between the two nations in ferry services only grew a minute 1% to 134,492 TEUs.
As of May 2017, ferry services between Japan and South Korea were provided on four routes: between Tsushima and Busan, between Shimonoseki and Busan, between Hakata and Busan and between Osaka and Busan. Seven carriers - including Kampu Ferry Co., Ltd. (Pukwan Ferry Co., Ltd.); Camellia Line Co., Ltd.; Korea Ferry Co., Ltd.; JR Kyushu Jet Ferry Inc.; Dae-A Express Shipping Co., Ltd. and Panstar Line Dot Com Co., Ltd. - operated a total of 12 ships: four car ferries and eight high-speed vessels on the routes.
Containers were only moved on three of the four trade routes: between Shimonoseki and Busan, between Hakata and Busan and between Osaka and Busan. The New Camellia (19,961 g/t) boasts the largest capacity of 64,985 TEUs among the four ferries, which is run on the Hakata/Busan route. As for the others, the Panstar Dream (21,535 g/t) is capable of moving 36,155 TEUs of containers and responsible for transporting containerized shipments between Osaka and Busan. Operated on the Shimonoseki/Busan route is the 16,779-TEU Seong Hee (16,895 g/t). Hamayu (16,187 g/t) has a container hauling capacity of 16,573 TEUs.
In 2016, 800,000 TEUs of containers were carried in international passenger ferry services, according to the report. Between South Korea and China, 660,000 TEUs were handled, while 3,100 TEUs were moved between South Korea and Russia.
