Busan transshipment up this year after flat 2006
A Port of Busan spokesman said Wednesday that Korea’s largest ocean gateway has seen transshipment cargo volume increase 14 percent this year after a flat year in 2006 produced only 0.6 percent growth.
Transshipment accounts for roughly 43 percent of volume for Busan, the world’s fifth-busiest container port. Container volume is expected to top 13 million TEUs in 2007.
Outlining the Busan Port Authority’s future development plans in Busan, Eung-Hyuk Lee said redevelopment of the port’s conventional piers over the next 13 years is critical to Busan’s volume, even as the port attempts to shift cargo to its gleaming Newport facility some 25 kilometers west of the existing port.
“The conventional piers handle 20 percent of BPA’s container volume, mostly feeder services for transshipment cargo,” Lee said. “It’s still very important to us.”
Cargo volume at the new port, managed by Dubai Ports World, has been sluggish by most accounts.
Kil-Sub Kim, secretary general of the Korean Shippers’ Council, said the new port hasn’t attracted services because cargo volumes aren’t high enough yet. He said incentives offered by BPA to bring in cargo still aren’t enough to lure carriers away from China, where cargo is more plentiful.
The new port should receive a boost in 2008 when Korean carriers Hyundai Merchant Marine and Hanjin move into their new joint container terminal.
Busan transshipment up this year after flat 2006
