The volume of container cargo at South Korea's major seaports grew slightly from a year earlier last month as a large increase in the amount of transhipment cargo more than offset a drop in import-export shipments, the government stated, reported Yonhap News Agency.
The amount of container cargo processed at the country's seaports in July is estimated at some 1.9 million TEUs, up 0.4 percent from the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.
The amount of transhipment cargo is estimated at 729,000 TEUs, up 4.7 percent from a year earlier, with the amount of locally processed cargo plunging 34.6 percent to 24,000 TEUs.
July will mark the fourth consecutive month the amount of transhipment cargo handled here has reached over 700,000 TEUs.
The volume of import-export cargo, on the other hand, is expected to have slipped 1.1 percent year-on-year to some 1.15 million TEUs in July when the country's overall trade volume shrank significantly last month with its exports plunging 8.8 percent year-on-year to US$44.6 billion and imports dropping 5.5 percent to $41.9 billion.
"Export-import cargo is expected to have shrank slightly from the same month last year amid a shrinking global economy and concerns that the country's economy will continue to shrink in the second half partly due to worsening consumer sentiments," the ministry said.
Still, the country's largest port in Busan, also the world's fifth-largest, continued its growth in July with over 1.46 million TEUs processed there last month, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier.
The amount of cargo at the country's second-largest port in southwestern Gwangyang is estimated at 173,000 TEUs, down 0.8 percent from July 2011, with the amount going through Incheon, the country's third-largest port and main gateway to and from China, losing 6.4 percent to 160,000 TEUs, according to the ministry.
( Source: CargoNews Asia )
