The Hanjin Oslo sailed into the harbor of Pusan Newport becoming the first container vessel to arrive at the new Mega Hub. The 279 meter vessel’s arrival was a commemorative event carrying 45 distinguished passengers on a short voyage from the old Busan port to the new state-of-the-art Pusan Newport facility. Passengers included the Minister of Maritime and Fisheries (MOMAF), the President of Busan Port Authority, PNC executives, Pilot Association President, Tugboat Association President, Busan Port Union President, National Maritime Union President and other government officials.
The Hanjin Oslo arrived carrying guest in order to showcase the harbour and facility which is engineered for safe and efficient vessel navigation. The facility’s navigation channels and turning basins are specifically designed in an effort to reduce overall navigational expenses for customers.
Pusan Newport is on course to begin operating the largest single terminal in South Korea on 1 January, 2006. Phase one of the development, which consists of three berths of 350m each, is now complete with 9 shore side gantry cranes, a further three berths on schedule for completion 2007 and the final three berths operational by mid-2009. The overall terminal has a conservative estimated handling capacity of 5.5 million TEU.
PNC is a joint-venture company established to develop, build and operate the North terminal of Pusan Northern Port, entailing a 3,200m quay terminal, located at the boundary of the West side of Busan City and eastern tip of Kyongsangnam-do, Republic of Korea. DP World, the leading port operator and developer, with Samsung Corporation are the joint-lead sponsors and investors in the project. DP World has been contracted as the operations and maintenance provider to PNC.
The facility is being promoted as the Gateway Hub of Northeast Asia due to its strategic location between Japan and Northeast China. The Busan area also has an extremely strong indigenous market and transportation infra-structure which makes the geographic position ideal for such a large container hub facility. A total of 4.08 million square meters of terminal and logistics support area has been designated as a Free Trade Zone which will encompass international facilities for integrated logistics and affiliated industries.