Port of Inchon heats up over opening container trade

To come up with a scheme for increased interaction between Inchon and Chinese ports, a Northeast Asian development forum was held in the Inchon assembly hall October 11th.

Song Hui-yeon, head of the Northeast Asia Development Research Center, said in an opening statement "Except 1998, container cargoes between Korea and China were sharply increasing every year, especially up 27 percent in 1999. In cargoes bound to China, container cargoes by car ferry rose 51 percent. Cargoes, however, always go through the Port of Pusan, and shippers suffered from high logistic costs."

He added, "To open a new container trade in Inchon and China, and to continuously develop the car ferry in Inchon and China, we will set up a foundation for the Port of Inchon to grow as a hub logistic port in Northeast Asia."

Choi Ki-sun, Mayor of Inchon city, said, "The Port of Inchon needs to reset port functions through metropolitan area new port construction, develop northern ports, and maintain inland and southern ports." He also emphasized that to complete northern ports early will allow handling coal, wood, and grain, while inner ports and southern ports would be dedicated to container cargoes.

Lee, Kap-sook, head of the Port of Inchon, explained that the Port of Inchon will invest 340 billion won, including $200 million of foreign capital, to build a large-size container quay, capable of deploying 3 container vessels with a cumulative capacity of 40,000 tons at the South Inchon port. It will also designate a custom free zone and introduce the Port Authority system to make the Port of Inchon a logistic center in the Yellow Sea. Lee also added that the Korea/China container trade opening will be understood in context as the reform of an inefficient transport system.