News
According to the Yellow Sea Liner Shipping Council (YSLSC), 2,915,676 TEUs of local and feeder containers were traded between South Korea and China in 2017. Throughput increased 2.2% year on year from 2,853,997 TEUs despite China’s economic retaliations against South Korea, which had introduced Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missiles.
Containers from South Korea to China fell 2.8% to 1,110,614 TEUs, but those from China to South Korea swelled 5.5% to 1,805,062 TEUs.
Between the economies, local containers climbed 3.2% to 2,758,857 TEUs, but feeder containers suffered a double-digit contraction, plunging 13% to 156,819 TEUs.
Looking at container throughput at ports in China, Shanghai handled 803,733 TEUs, up 6% and Ningbo, 232,769 TEUs, up 13.4%. In contrast, containers to and from Qingdao, Tianjin New Port and Dalian were sluggish, falling 4.9% to 443,817 TEUs, 6.3% to 363,054 TEUs and 1% to 211,893 TEUs, respectively.
In addition to the economic retaliations, Beijing enacted an import ban on waste products—such as metal scrap, waste plastic and waste paper—at the end of 2017. As such, demand is projected this year to decrease for moving commodities from South Korea to China.
