Plans to build 17-meter deep wharves

Seventeen meter deep wharves may soon appear in the Pusan New Port and the Port of Kwangyang.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, planning to build the 17-meter deep wharves for 7 or 8 berths in yet incomplete container wharves, has commissioned research as to its cost and feasibility. Those container wharves are being built by the KCTA and government.

An official at MOMAF revealed that as mega-sized container vessels begin to appear in ports, wharves over 16 meters deep will be required. So, the government is now considering building some wharves to accommodate the larger ships of the future.

The places to be considered for deep wharves are the third project construction site in Kwangyang and the newly launched Gaduk-do island site in Pusan New Port.

The government and the Korea Container Terminal Authority (KCTA) planned to build three out of seven berths, two berths to allow 12,000-ton vessels and one berth for 8,000 TEU vessels. Three phases of construction are scheduled for completion by December 2006, facilitating mega-sized vessels there from the start of 2007.

The government also considered building 4 or 5 out of 21 berths in container terminals to fit the deeper criterion. They also commissioned a research project regarding it to Han-A Engineering. Results are expected by next June or July.

The Pusan New Port originally tried to construct 24 berths by 2011. However, in the processes of carrying out the projects, it encountered shrinking private capital and delays in contracts with private investors. These brought about increases in government capital funding. With the full supports of the government, those plans to build 24 berths grew to 30 berths. Amongst them, 9 berths will be built from private capital, eight will be owned by the KCTA and the rest paid for by the government.

The government’s reasoning for building the wharves seems to be in line with industry trends. Shipping companies are being more aggressively competitive. This has led to a great deal of expansion, mostly in terms of vessel sizes, i.e. the appearance of 10,000TEU vessels are just a pre-cursor to the ultra-sized 13 and 18 thousand TEU vessels of the future. It is these massive ships that the government aims to be lure into Korean ports.

Shanghai Port, one in a long line of competing ports, announced it will build more than fifty berths in new container terminals, of which some will be 18 meters deep.

However, "While one more meter of depth construction incurs tremendous additional expense, they will encounter a great deal of difficulty in getting a large enough budget for them. As it stands, the average container vessel falls into the 6,000 to 6,700 TEU category. It is taking a huge risk to build wharves that size," an industry worker said.

A working official at MOMAF revealed their determination to build deep wharves even before they receive the feasibility study on it commissioned to Han-A Engineering. The study is due around June next year.