S Korea handles record container traffic in January

Container volume handled at South Korea's seaports reached a record monthly high in January, fueled by improving economic and business conditions, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs in Seoul said Wednesday.


Container traffic posted a 12.7 percent increase to 1.66 million TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, in January compared with the same month a year before, according to the ministry.


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 and handles approximately 74 percent of the total container volume, processed 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 by Yonhap News Agency.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)