Korea sets container record in January

Container volume handled at South Korea's seaports reached a record monthly high in January, fuelled by improving economic and business conditions, reported Xinhua.


Container traffic posted a 12.7 percent increase to 1.66 million TEUs in January compared with the same month a year before, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.


Cargo exports and imports registered 16.3 percent growth over the same period on the back of the country's rising trades with major countries, such as the United States, China and Japan.


The port of Busan, located in the country's second-largest city handled approximately 74 percent of the total container volume or 1.23 million TEUs last month, up 15.6 percent from the same month a year earlier.


"If the current trend continues, we will be able to easily enter an era of 20 million TEUs in terms of container volume this year," an official from the ministry was quoted as saying.
(Source:http://www.cargonewsasia.com)