Busan Port Authority Visits Japan... 200 Kumamoto Shippers Attend Busan Port Briefing with Enthusiasm

Published 13 Jul.2023 17:23(KST)

Updated 06 Aug.2025 20:34(KST)

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Busan Port Authority (BPA) held an explanatory meeting in Kumamoto, Japan on the 12th, following the one in Shimonoseki on the 11th.

About 200 local shippers and logistics company representatives attended the Kumamoto meeting, roughly twice the number who attended the Shimonoseki meeting.

Shippers in the Kumamoto area often transport cargo about 2 hours to use the nearby Hakata Port due to a lack of regular container routes at Kumamoto Port. According to statistics, only about 15% of local shippers use Kumamoto Port.

From April 2024, due to amendments to Japan’s labor reform law, restrictions on overtime hours for truck drivers will be imposed. With the local driver shortage and rising freight rates, the cargo transport burden for shippers who have been using Hakata Port will increase further.

According to Nomura Research Institute in Japan, due to the labor reform law amendments, the supply of truck drivers in Kumamoto Prefecture will be 30% short in 2025 and 38% short in 2030. This exceeds the national average shortage rate of 35% in Japan by about 3% in 2030.

In response, BPA explained that using transshipment transport connecting Kumamoto Port and Busan Port can minimize truck transport within Japan and efficiently utilize Busan Port’s long-distance routes.

A briefing session on Busan Port is currently underway in Kumamoto, Japan.

The Kumamoto area is a traditional Japanese agricultural production region famous for tomatoes and tobacco leaves, and it has stable cargo transport demand due to the presence of Honda, the world’s number one motorcycle company.

When the Kumamoto factory of Taiwanese semiconductor company TSMC, scheduled to open in September 2024, begins full operation, demand for equipment materials for factory operation is also expected to increase, leading to higher cargo volumes.

Kang Jun-seok, president of BPA, said, “Through the Shimonoseki and Kumamoto explanatory meetings, we were able to explain the objective advantages and competitiveness of Busan Port and instill confidence in Japanese shippers to use Busan Port.”