Gwangyang Port Secures Maersk Latin America Service Call Again After 4 Years

by Heo Seonsik

Published 21 Jul.2023 15:34(KST)

Updated 15 Aug.2025 11:59(KST)

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Annual Generation of Approximately 100,000 TEU New Volume Through Re-Call

Yeosu Gwangyang Port Authority (President Park Seong-hyun, hereinafter referred to as the Authority) announced on the 21st that it has attracted a new container service connecting Gwangyang with four Latin American countries: Panama, Colombia, Peru, and Chile (route name AC3, Asia CentralAmerica 3) to Gwangyang Port.

With the establishment of the new Latin America service scheduled to make its first call on August 19, the number of scheduled liner calls at Gwangyang Port is expected to recover to 82 calls per week, reaching the level of the first quarter of 2022, thereby strengthening the competitiveness of the container liner service and the recovery trend of cargo volume.

[Photo by Yeosu Gwangyang Port Authority]

The re-attraction of the Latin America service, which had been suspended since November 2019, to Gwangyang Port is seen as the result of the efforts made by the Authority’s executives and employees along with terminal operators who have been actively conducting sales activities on the ground.

At the end of last year, the Authority held a customer appreciation briefing inviting major shipping companies and conducted executive marketing targeting domestic operation headquarters of alliance carriers.

This year, from the first half, the Authority has been promoting ship and shipper matching marketing to open new deep-sea routes, expanding marketing activities such as inviting Maersk’s Shanghai global operation headquarters to Gwangyang Port and conducting port sales activities targeting local CEOs of the Asia-Pacific branch in Singapore.

Maersk plans to deploy a total of 11 vessels, each capable of carrying about 9,000 containers, on the Latin America service, calling at Gwangyang Port once a week. The detailed port call information is as follows: "(China) Shanghai - Ningbo - (Korea) Gwangyang - Busan - (Panama) Balboa - (Colombia) Buenaventura - (Peru) Callao - (Chile) Mejillones - (New Zealand) - (Hong Kong)". Through this service attraction, the Authority expects to generate approximately 100,000 TEUs of new cargo volume annually at Gwangyang Port.

President Park Seong-hyun of the Authority said, “The successful re-entry of the Latin America route will not only enhance convenience for import and export companies at Gwangyang Port but also strengthen route connectivity, leading to an increase in transshipment cargo.” He added, “We will continue to make efforts to increase cargo volume through attracting new routes based on ‘customer-first’ management.”

Meanwhile, the Authority plans to continue cooperating with terminal operators to improve port productivity and achieve qualitative service growth, as well as making all-out efforts to secure cargo volume and strengthen route connectivity.