20.10.26S. Korea's Box Traffic Swings to Growth in September

Containerized shipments moved to and from South Korea in September grew 3.2% from a year earlier to 2.34 million TEUs, according to the economy’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF). They came back from a streak of year-on-year decreases that began in April and, therefore, registered their first improvement in six months.

In the third quarter (July-September), however, container throughput at South Korean ports fell 2% to 7.05 million TEUs. Exports and imports accounted for 4.04 million TEUs in total, down 2.3%, while 2.97 million TEUs were transshipped there, down 1.6%.

Looking at volumes at major ports, Busan was responsible for 5.18 million TEUs in the three months in question, down 4.6%; Incheon, 852,000 TEUs, up 10.9%; and Kwangyang, 534,000 TEUs, down 4.9%.