Busan container volume, services rise

Busan container volume, services rise    Container volume at the Port of Busan rose 22.4 percent in July to 1.3 million TEUs, continuing a trend of strong growth at South Korea's busiest container port.
   For the year, volume is up 23.2 percent to 8.2 million TEUs.
   One significant development is even faster growth at Busan Newport complex. The new deepwater complex has seen volume grow 113.2 percent in the first seven months of the year, to 2.9 million TEUs.
   Busan's transshipment volume, meanwhile, grew 24.8 percent in July to 552,867 TEUs, while for the year transshipment has risen 22.9 percent to 3.7 million TEUs, just below the growth rate of import/export cargo. About 45 percent of Busan's throughput is from transshipment.
   The port also said Friday that the number of weekly services calling its terminals rose 33 in the last 12 months, to 323 services as of Aug. 17.
   By region Southeast Asia accounted for 22.3 percent of services calling Busan, Japan 19.5 percent, China 15.8 percent, North America 11.5 percent and South America 9 percent. The port noted strong increases in the numbers of services connecting Busan with Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America. The port also said it has benefited from the Grand Alliance using it as a transshipment hub rather than calling directly at Japanese ports for some of its services.