IPA exceeds 150,000TEU in October for the first time

Monthly container flows in Incheon Port exceeded 150,000 TEU for the first time.

IPA analyzed the monthly container flows record for October 2007 on the 15th, and it showed that a total of 150,528TEU was handled in October, a 25.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

This is the first time for the monthly container flows in Incheon Port to exceed 150,000TEU. The former peak was 144,306TEU in May of this year.

In addition, the yearly container flows cumulative total also exceeded 1.4million TEU as of Nov. 11, which far exceed the 1,377,050TEU from last year. As of late October, the increase rates for yearly container flows compared to last year in Incheon port was 21.3%.

Monthly container flows through Incheon port tended to remain around 140,000TEU, but as it exceeded 150,000TEU in October this year, it is expected that the renewal of the monthly record at the end of the year and that the total for this year may surpass 1.65million TEU.

A series of new records for the container flows at Incheon Port result fron increased trading of materials to China due to the improved trading relationship. Among the 150,000TEU of goods in October, the amount with China was 102,976TEU, which indicates a 27.5% increase compared to last year.

As of late October of 2007, the goods volume to China was 881,110TEU, which accounts for 65.7% of the total, showing that trade with China is growing.

With container flows increases, the total amount of freight increased as well. The total volume of freight in October was 11.79million tonnes, which indicates a 10.2% increase compared to last year.

In spite of high oil prices, oil imports increased (+30.1%) as the demand increased, and the import of automobiles(+39.8%) took the lead in flow increases.

As far as automobile exports are concerned, there were 39,437 cars (new cars: 34,000, used: 5,437) shipped in October as GM Daewoo achieved export increases . This indicates a 5.4% increase(the cumulative total: 22.8% increase) from the same month last year. GM Daewoo accounted for 73.7% of the total.