Busan Port reborn into transshipment hub coming from South East Asia

While the global recession cause a cut in global trade volume, the emergence of Busan Port as a hub for transshipment cargoes coming from South East Asia, coupled with the good news of attracting transshipment cargoes from North China, gives a glimmer of hope to Busan Port.

BPA announced on April 13th that APL of Singapore, the world 7th largest shipper, opened Mindanao Express, a new service connecting Singapore, the Philippines, Hong Kong, China and Busan, Korea.

As the new service was put into operation on April 7th, the service is expected to add an annualized 20,000 TEU (20-foot equivalent unit) of transshipment cargoes to Busan Port. Prior to the new service, APL has already opened CMX service last March and attributed to adding 1,500 TEU per week to Busan Port.

The new services connecting Busan Port and South East Asia are expected to add 100,000 TEU of transshipment cargoes annually.

APL handled 510,000 TEU, 25 % of the total transshipment cargoes handled at Busan Port last year, and got the most volume incentive worth of 1.5 billion won among shippers.

An officer of BPA said that the increase of APL’s transshipment cargoes amid decreasing global trade volume, reflected Busan Port’s competitiveness so BPA would use the case to appeal to global shippers.