A key part of the plan is to transform the country’s southern port of Busan into a “mega port” that can accommodate several 25,000-TEU vessels (Yonhap)
SEJONG, Aug. 1 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea on Thursday unveiled a plan to inject 41.8 trillion won (US$35.2 billion) by 2040 to boost the country’s cargo-handling capacity at 12 ports across the country
The investment would increase the capacity to 1.85 billion tons per year in 2040 from the 1.32 billion tons in 2017, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.
A key part of the plan is to transform the country’s southern port of Busan into a “mega port” that can accommodate several 25,000-TEU vessels.
TEU stands for twenty-foot equivalent units, a measurement of a ship’s cargo capacity.
“We will make Busan Port the world’s third largest port by 2040,” Moon Seong-hyeok, minister of oceans and fisheries, told reporters.
Busan Port was the sixth largest port in the world in 2018 by handling 21.66 million TEUs of cargo, behind Shanghai, Singapore, Ningbo, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
The ministry said the government plans to inject 16.08 trillion won for the project while attracting 25.7 trillion won from the private sector.
South Korea also plans to create a new port in the southern resort island of Jeju that can accommodate four 220,000-ton cruise ships simultaneously in a move to attract more foreign passengers aboard cruise ships.
South Korea hopes to make Jeju — one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations — a leading cruise ship stopover in Asia.
(Yonhap)
