Incheon container volumes expected to rise 15% in 2017

The Port of Incheon, which moved 1.47 million TEUs during the first six months of 2017, anticipates that its container throughput for the second half of the year will total 1.61 million TEUs, bringing the full-year total to 3.08 million TEUs.    The Incheon Port Authority, the governing body for the Port of Incheon in South Korea, expects its container handling volume in 2017 to rise by 14.9 percent year-over-year to about 3 million TEUs.
   The Port of Incheon, which handled 1.47 million TEUs during the first six months of the year, anticipates that its container throughput for the second half of 2017 will total 1.61 million TEU, bringing the full-year total to 3.08 million TEUs, higher than the annual goal of 3 million units.
   “Container handling volume is usually higher in the second half than in the first half,” the port authority said in a statement. “In fact, the percentage of the trading volume for the second half to the first half has continuously increased (7.3-16.5 percent) since 2013.”
   In addition, the IPA said its container volume is expected to reach 2 million TEUs by September, one month earlier than last year.
   The Port of Incheon attributes the increased throughput during the first half of the year in part to global economic recovery, as well as an increase in the use of the port by the shippers in the region due to the effects of the collapse of Hanjin Shipping since October last year.
   On Aug. 16, the port saw the launch of a new regular container route, the Thailand-Vietnam Services, or TVX, launched by five shipping companies: CK Line, Dongjin Shipping, Namsung Shipping, Pan Continental Shipping and Pan Ocean. The route is identical with the existing NTX route, with the difference being that the NTX enters the Port of Incheon on the weekend, while the TVX arrives in the port on weekdays.
   In a statement, IPA President Nam Bong-hyun thanked port customers and terminal operators that have aided the port’s growth.
   “We are going to keep working hard to improve port logistics services and increase container trading volume,” he said.