BPA Jointly Hosts Briefing Sessions for Shimonoseki Port, Japan and Busan Port

Busan Port Authority (BPA) conducted a port sales event on the 11th in Shimonoseki, Japan, targeting about 100 Japanese shippers and logistics company representatives to promote the competitiveness of Busan Port.

Japan is one of the top three trading countries, accounting for about 15% of transshipment cargo at Busan Port. The Busan Port Authority holds Busan Port briefings annually in collaboration with local Japanese ports that have a high dependency on Busan Port due to a lack of regular ocean routes.

At this event, port officials from Busan Port and Shimonoseki Port, shipping companies, and shippers participated to share data-based presentations on the competitiveness of Busan Port, including regular routes by major ports and successful cases of Japanese shippers using Busan Port, enhancing the credibility of the presentations.

The briefing started with “Transshipment Merits and Development Strategies of Busan Port” by Park Je-sung, BPA’s Japan representative, followed by presentations from Professor Wi Jong-jin of Kyushu Sangyo University, Manager Kurata of Kanpu Ferry, President Akiyama of NX Korea (formerly Nippon Express), Manager Yamamoto of Janggeum Shipping (SINOKOR), and Sakai, Director of the Shimonoseki Port Authority.

They introduced international ferry services between Korea and Japan, cases of cost reduction and lead time (transportation time) shortening when using Busan Port, and future joint development plans for the two ports.

Busan-Shimonoseki Joint Busan Port Briefing Session.

Shimonoseki Port is very close to Busan Port and is characterized by the transportation of many cargos via container regular routes and daily operating car ferry vessels.

The short lead time of the car ferry vessels, combined with Busan Port’s excellent container regular route network, can create a synergy effect, enabling the generation of more transshipment cargo.

Small-scale local Japanese ports lack container regular routes compared to Busan Port, with almost no long-distance ocean routes to Europe or the Americas, and for Southeast Asia routes, ships call only on specific days, making fast cargo transportation difficult.

On the other hand, when connected to Busan Port by ferry, cargo can be transported quickly through Busan Port’s 287 weekly regular container routes connecting to ports worldwide daily.

Among Japan’s 65 container ports, over 60 are local ports with almost no ocean regular routes. These local ports often find it difficult to consolidate cargo without Busan Port, which has various ocean routes, and strongly hope for close cooperation with Busan Port.

Following Shimonoseki, the Busan Port Authority plans to hold a Busan Port briefing jointly with Kumamoto Prefecture in Kumamoto on the 12th.

BPA President Kang Jun-seok said, “Japan is the third-largest market based on Busan Port cargo volume, with 1.72 million TEU out of Japan’s total 17.92 million TEU of import and export cargo in 2021 transshipped at Busan Port. We will strengthen cooperation with local Japanese ports to enable more cargo to be transshipped through Busan Port.”

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