Korean port volumes up in the 1st half of 2012

Port of Busan

The Korean Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM Minister Kwon Do-Youp) announced that 31 Korean ports have seen container volumes grow by 3.5% in the first six months of 2012 compared to a year ago.

Total volumes that the ports handled reached 668,350,000 tons in the first half, up from 645,700,000 tons, or 3.5%, compared to the same period last year.

The total import-export cargo traffic reached 6,760,000 TEU, increasing by 1.8% seen twelve months earlier. Transshipment cargo also came to 4,340,000 TEU, climbing by 15.4% year on year.

Port by port, Busan Port, Gwangyang Port and Pyeongtaek․Dangjin Logistics have seen cargo increases in the machinery, oil and motors sectors, with increases of 8.7%, 5.8%, and 7.8% respectively.

On the other hand, Incheon Port and Pohang Port's volumes have dropped by 4.4% and 3.2% each, with the finger of blame pointed at decreases in the sand and soft coal trades.

Especially, Busan Port recorded the largest traffic increase among the top 5 container ports in the world despite most ports now facing a slow or sternway in trade volume due to global economic depression.

Busan port, the biggest port in Korea, recorded 8,532,356 TEU in the first half year, up by 8.4% over the last year, which is the highest growth rate among the world's 5 busiest ports. Busan Port Authority (BPA) gave thanks to its strong transshipment cargo performance.

In comparison, Shanghai Port, top-ranked in the world saw 3.9% of traffic growth and Singapore Port recorded 7.3%. Hong Kong Port recorded -0.7% growth.

By item, the machinery, vehicles and cement import-export volume have soared by 17.3%, 15.2%, 7.6% respectively, but soft coal was down by 6.5% compared with last year. < 김보람 기자 brkim@ksg.co.kr >