Korea's seaport cargo up 3.8% in Q1

By a2016032

Published : Apr 28, 2017 - 09:24 Updated : Apr 28, 2017 - 09:24

Cargo processed at South Korean seaports rose slightly during the first three months of 2017 from a year earlier amid a steady increase in exports, government data showed Friday.

Cargo handled at the country's seaports came to 389.92 million tons in the January-March period, up from 375.64 million tons tallied a year earlier, according to the data by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

(Yonhap)

Non-container cargo rose 3.1 percent on-year to 278.54 million tons during the three-month period, while container freight gained 2.3 percent to 6.49 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs).

A total of 318.25 million tons of export-import cargo was processed in the first quarter, up 2.8 percent from the previous year's 309.45 million tons.

Busan was South Korea's biggest maritime gateway with cargo handling reaching 92.6 million tons over the cited period, outpacing the southwestern port of Gwangyang with 72.55 million tons and Ulsan with 50.9 million tons, the latest data showed. (Yonhap)