Korean port volumes up in October

The Korean Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) announced that major Korean ports have seen container volumes grow 15.8% in October compared to a year ago.

Total volumes that the ports handled reached 112,890,000 tons in October, up from from 103,000,000 tons, or 9.6%, compared to the same period last year. The accumulated volumes in 2011 climbed 8.6% to 1,078,110,000 tons from 993,150,000 tons in the previous year.

Korean ports handled a total of 1,881,000 TEU versus the 1,625,000 TEU seen twelve months earlier. Not only import and export cargos, but also transshipment cargos increased by 8.6% to 1,161,000 TEU, 30.5% to 682,000 TEU each.

Although the global economic downturn includes a huge problem in Europe, the import and export cargo volumes have grown steadily since August and transshipment cargo volumes have achieved double-digit growth since March.

By item, oil imports and exports, chemical items and soft coal have soared by 13.6%, 9.1%, and 8.7%, respectively, but sand is downs by 8.1% compared with last year.

Port by port, Pyeongtaek,Dangjin Logistics, and Ulsan Port have seen cargo increases in the machinery, oil and fiber sectors, with increases of 30.2%, 16.7%, and 13.3%, respectively. On the other hand, Incheon Port's volumes have dropped by 4.1%, with the finger of blame pointed at decreases in the sand, cement and grain trades.

Busan port, the biggest port in Korea, recorded 1,411,000 TEU, up by 19.7%, especially their transshipment cargos which expanded by 30.7% as some global liners have been calling more often at the port. The increases are the second highest record following 31.9% in May 2010.

Gwangyang Port also handled 184,000 TEU, jumping by 2.1% compared to October 2010, although its import and export cargo volumes diminished slightly. Overall, the volumes of Incheon Port soared 7.6% to 156,000 TEU on the last month of 2010 thanks to increases of import and export volumes with China, Vietnam and Thailand.

A representative of MLTM said, “There is a good outlook for import, export and transshipment volumes, despite these economically tough times. Busan Port and other Korean ports could handle 15,000,000 TEU and 20,000,000 TEU each in early December if this trend continues.” < 김보람 기자 brkim@ksg.co.kr >