A development map of Busan Newport (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Korea Bizwire) – The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said Friday the dredging work for Busan Newport on the country’s southeastern tip will be completed next week to accommodate mega container ships.
The construction work began in December 2014 with a budget of 60 billion won (US$53 million) to secure 17 meters of water depth at the port in Busan that can service 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container ships. TEU is a measure used to gauge the size of container ships.
Busan Newport was originally designed in 2006 to handle 7,000 TEU container vessels with drafts of 15 meters.
The ministry, however, began the dredging in 2014 to deepen the depth to catch up with other ports in Shanghai and Singapore, which have sea levels of 17 meters and 18 meters, respectively.
“By allowing bigger ships to dock, Busan Newport can become competitive with other major sea ports,” a ministry official said. “We expect the completion of the dredging construction to help Busan Newport attract more transshipment cargo.”
(Yonhap)
