The Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal in the port city, west of Seoul. (Yonhap)
INCHEON, Nov. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — The Incheon International Ferry Terminal, which provides ferry services to 10 Chinese destinations, is expected to keep operating without passengers for the time being.
The regular ferries connecting the western South Korean port with 10 Chinese cities two or three times a week have been carrying cargo without passengers starting from late January 2020, according to the Incheon Port Authority (IPA).
Accordingly, all of the passenger terminal’s commercial facilities including convenience stores have suspended operations.
The port industry expects the ferries to be able to resume the transport of passengers from the latter half of next year, primarily due to China’s strict COVID-19 prevention measures.
Ferry operators have endured the COVID-19 crisis thanks to the growth in cargo traffic.
The Port of Incheon saw the volume of cargo transported by the ferries reach 354,328 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first nine months of this year, up 13.3 percent from 312,756 TEUs a year ago.
The IPA forecasted that the demand for transport of e-commerce goods, refrigerated cargo and automobile components would increase since the ferries are a relatively quick mode of transport for the routes to and from China.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
