The Future of 'Pohang Yeongil Sinman Port', Finding Answers in the Netherlands!

Discussion and Benchmarking of Mutual Cooperation Projects with Rotterdam Port Authority President

Visit to Rotterdam Logistics Center by Busan Port Authority and Business Exchange Meeting Held

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, and his delegation visited the Port of Rotterdam Authority and discussed mutual cooperation projects with Alard Castelein, President.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Gui-yeol] On the morning of the 21st at 9 a.m. (local time), Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, along with Bae Han-cheol, Chairman of the Provincial Council, visited the Rotterdam Port Authority.

This visit was arranged to listen to various opinions on the logistics industry, which is being fostered as a core growth industry in the Netherlands, and to explore the future development direction of the ‘Pohang Yeongil New Port’ through a tour of the Busan Port Authority logistics center.

On that day, Alard Castelein, President of the Port Authority, stated, “The logistics industry, including the Port of Rotterdam, which is the hub and center of European logistics, is being developed as one of the nine core leading industries selected by the Dutch government.”

In response, Governor Lee Cheol-woo mentioned, “We will seek ways to apply the advanced logistics industry system of the Netherlands to the Gyeongbuk Pohang Yeongil New Port to foster a new growth model and create a Gyeongbuk-type logistics industry model.”

In the case of the Netherlands, an organic cooperative system has been established with surrounding local governments to secure competitiveness as an international logistics city.

The Port of Rotterdam performs metropolitan-level urban administrative tasks in various fields such as housing construction, transportation, shipping, land development policies, environment, and public affairs in cooperation with 17 adjacent municipalities.

It has moved beyond its initial role as a port city focused on shipping and port functions to build large-scale hinterland logistics complexes and facilities, securing differentiated competitiveness.

Accordingly, Gyeongbuk Province plans to focus on creating and fostering growth engines through mutual cooperation with hinterland local governments and others in the logistics industry and will promote new projects.

Additionally, it plans to review the management operation and direction of the Rotterdam Port Authority to develop a new growth model.

To this end, it will study and review the Rotterdam Port model, which is establishing a proactive response system to issues such as business promotion centered on distribution complexes, discovering specialized models like used car exports, ship enlargement, and greenhouse gas concerns.

Following this, they visited the Busan Port Authority Rotterdam Logistics Center to tour the local facilities.

Visited the Rotterdam Water Distribution Center through Busan Port Authority and toured the local facilities.

At this meeting, they discussed ways to utilize the logistics center as a spearhead for exporting Gyeongbuk Province’s excellent agricultural and marine products.

On the last day in the Netherlands, they also held a roundtable meeting with export support organization heads, including Park Young-soo, President of the Korean Businessmen’s Association, Seon Sul-cheol, Chairman of the Ground Company Council, and Ko Sang-myung, Director of KOTRA, to promote export activation.

Lee Jung-woo, head of the World Korean Trade Association Amsterdam branch, said, “We are currently importing excellent agricultural and marine processed products from Gyeongbuk Province and have a stable export infrastructure through the Busan Port Authority logistics center. We will strive to supply more agricultural specialty products to the local market in the future.”

In response, Governor Lee Cheol-woo requested, “Please generously support us so that the increase in exports of excellent agricultural products can continue through local export support and the Korean Wave.”

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