Busan Port’s 2015 cargo results fall just short of expectations

Hindered by the slowdown of global and domestic economies, the South Korean port handled approximately 19.45 million TEUs in 2015, 50,000 short of its throughput goal for the year.    Busan Port handled approximately 19.45 million TEUs in 2015 and is on track to handle 20 million TEUs in 2016, according to a statement from the Busan Port Authority.
   The South Korean port handled 9.34 million TEUs of local cargo in 2015 and 10.11 million TEUs of transshipment cargo, a year-over-year increase of 0.9 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively, BPA said.
   However, these results are still preliminary and the confirmed numbers will be released in mid-February 2016.
   Busan Port’s goal was to reach a throughput of 19.5 million TEUs in 2015, but volumes were hindered by the slowdown of global and domestic economies.
   Looking ahead, in order to achieve growth in 2016, the port will focus on strengthening its customer service activities, subsidizing the cost of inter-terminal transportation of transshipment cargo and creating an empty cargo storage area in the New Port.
   In addition, terminal construction at the New Port will be accelerated and BPA will hasten its integration plans at North Port to deliver a single unified terminal operator, which will become a shareholder. More focus will also be directed towards further developing the Distripark to attract more multi-national logistics companies as tenants.
   BPA has also established a new International Business Division to boost its penetration of global markets and handle the rapidly changing shipping and maritime landscape. 
   Overall, a total of 149 liner shipping services call Busan Port, of which 83 call other regions outside of Asia, according to ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool. Intra-regional services outside of BlueWater Reporting’s scope – i.e. those that only call ports in South Korea – are not included in this data.