Busan taking internal measures to combat economic gloom

The Busan Port Authority said it will re-prioritize construction activity to cut costs in the wake of the ongoing global economic downturn.

In a statement Friday, BPA said it will review construction expenses, which account for 56 percent of total expense and prioritize them from the stage of budget planning and get rid of the possibility of construction cost increases by continuously checking the progress of construction.

The port authority said it is also reining in international travel for its staff, as well as more closely monitor the impact of foreign exchange and bond rates.

In other news, BPA said China continues to be its biggest source of cargo. It recently released detailed statistics about the makeup of port volume, BPA said 23.9 percent of the 13.3 million TEUs it handled in 2007 involved import or export trade to China. The United States and Japan were the ports' second and third-biggest trade destinations, at 17.2 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively.

Its biggest goods categories were fabrics, machinery and parts, and electric devices and parts, which accounted for 33.7 percent, 7.9 percent and 7.2 percent of total volume, respectively. 

Source: American Shipper