Busan Port, a Milestone with MSC... First Domestic Single Carrier to Surpass 4 Million TEU Annual Throughput

Busan Port Authority (BPA) announced on the 4th that MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company), the world's No. 1 container shipping company, made new history by handling 4 million TEU of container cargo annually at Busan Port in 2024, the first time for a single carrier.

Busan Port New Port.

The 4 million TEU handled by MSC surpasses the annual cargo volumes of South Korea's major container ports, Incheon Port (approximately 3.56 million TEU) and Gwangyang Port (approximately 2.01 million TEU), marking the highest volume handled annually by a single carrier at domestic ports. MSC's total cargo volume increased by about 16% compared to the previous year, continuing its strong growth trend.

This achievement was made possible by continuous joint efforts between Busan Port Authority and terminal operators to improve services and operational efficiency at Busan Port, including alleviating terminal congestion and expanding the opening of Internal Transshipment Transport (ITT) gates.

In particular, following the successful introduction of the transshipment transport system (TSS), developed as the world's first in 2023, last year they jointly introduced Port-i, a transshipment monitoring system, with terminal operators to minimize land movement of transshipment cargo between terminals and maximize fleet operation efficiency.

The transshipment transport system (TSS) is a blockchain-based system for real-time information sharing among port stakeholders to efficiently handle transshipment cargo (managing trucks and cargo in groups, enabling flexible cargo allocation and vehicle dispatch).

Port-i is a blockchain-based real-time monitoring and anomaly detection system for vessels and cargo, which immediately alerts in case of any abnormalities in cargo transshipment connections, enabling prompt response.

MSC has also actively utilized the advantages of its own terminal at Busan New Port along with the transshipment benefits of Busan Port to pioneer new routes and continuously expand transshipment cargo volume, increasing it by about 21% compared to the previous year. If it is not an owned terminal, the carrier’s vessels cannot be berthed first, which may cause delays in handling transshipment cargo.

Kang Jun-seok, President of BPA, said, “MSC’s record of 4 million TEU proves that Busan Port has differentiated competitiveness as a global transshipment hub,” and added, “We will continue to do our best to enhance port operation efficiency by working closely with terminal operators.”

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