Gwangyang Port's Container Trade Volume with the U.S. in Q1 Increases by 11% Year-on-Year

Record of 76,000 TEU... Among Them, 51,000 TEU Are Import Cargo

Playing a Key Role in Korea's Trade with the U.S.

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seonsik] This year, the volume of exports and imports between the United States region and Gwangyang Port container terminal has increased.

The Yeosu Gwangyang Port Authority (President Park Seonghyun, YGPA) announced that in the first quarter of this year, the container trade volume with the U.S. at Gwangyang Port recorded 76,000 TEU, an 11% increase compared to the same period last year.

Recently, the shipping market has faced difficulties due to supply shortages caused by worsening external conditions such as COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the Shanghai Port lockdown, making it hard for domestic export-import companies to find vessels to load their cargo.

In this context, the expansion of container shipping capacity to the U.S. at Gwangyang Port is analyzed to have somewhat eased the bottleneck for export-import companies.

Notably, among the U.S. container trade volume in the first quarter, 51,000 TEU, accounting for 67%, were import cargoes, demonstrating that Gwangyang Port plays an important role in Korea's trade with the U.S.

Container logistics require balancing container supply and demand to ensure containers are not lacking during import and export. Since Korea's trade with the U.S. has a higher proportion of exports, it is necessary to adjust container supply through imports or empty container supply to avoid shortages.

The authority evaluated that Gwangyang Port's status in U.S. trade was achieved by actively attracting various import cargoes such as paper and pellets without discrimination, contributing to the increase in cargo volume at Gwangyang Port.

Additionally, efforts to actively attract temporary container ships, which faced disruptions in regular liner operations due to port congestion, to Gwangyang Port to minimize damage to domestic companies have led to increased trade volume with the U.S.

Marketing Director Lee Kyungha stated, “We plan to continue creating a port that can flexibly respond to crisis situations such as logistics supply shortages and expand support for export-import logistics of domestic companies.”

Meanwhile, Yeosu Gwangyang Port, a smart convergence port handling petrochemical products, steel-related products, containers, and automobiles, boasts the number one position nationwide in export-import cargo volume and ranks second nationwide after Busan Port in total cargo volume.

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seonsik hss79@asiae.co.kr

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.