Port container traffic in Nov. new record

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (Minister: Chung, Jong-hwan) announced that monthly container traffic (estimate) in November rose by 10.4% from the same month last year to record 1.65 million TEU. It is a 23.6%-increase from November 2008, when cargo volume sharply dropped due to the global economic crisis.

Export and import cargoes (1.07 million TEU) and transshipment cargoes (555,000 TEU) have grown 12.9% and 6.4% from the same period last year, respectively.

It the highest cargo volume ever recorded in November, reflecting the rise in cargo volume as a result of recovery in the real economy. However, the month-on-month increase of monthly cargo volume is slowly on the decrease.

Cargo volume at Busan Port was 1.22 million TEU in November, which is 3.5 % and 12.5% higher than the previous month and the same month last year, respectively. Particularly, transshipment cargo volume in Busan Port is steadily increasing with the rapid growth of Russia cargo volume and the rise in cargo volume of major shipping companies, such as Hanjin Shipping and Hyundai Merchant Marine.

At Gwangyang Port, accumulated cargo volume recorded 1.89 million TEU in November, up 15.3% from a year ago, and is expected to exceed 2 million TEU around December 20.

At Incheon Port, cargo volume in November increased by 5.0% from the same month last year at 167,000 TEU and accumulated cargo volume increased by 19.8% from the same period last year to record 1.7 million TEU.

The Ministry officials point out that argo volume has grown significantly from the same period last year to reach 17.6 million TEU until November this year and recorded a better performance compared to the same month in 2008 (16.62 million TEU). Under the current trend, therefore, annual container traffic is expected to exceed 19 million TEU.