South Korean Ports to Invest $13.3bn in Infrastructure
The South Korean government, in collaboration with the private sector, will provide Won14.7trn ($13.3bn) for port upgrades and infrastructure investment by 2020 , according to data released by South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF).
MOF hopes to expand 140 cargo berths and 49 passenger berths to cater to the increasing sizes of container ships and growing arrivals of cruise ships by 2020.
59 existing ports are earmarked to receive a share of the funds and an official from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said that it is also planning to operate 16 cruise docks at 9 ports by 2020.
The ministry hopes this will increase South Korea’s annual cargo handling capacity from 1.1 billion tonnes to 1.4 billion tonnes.
The government has pledged to contribute a share of around Won7.4trn over the next five years. This follows the recent receivership application by Hanjin Shipping and an earlier promise by the government to make the nation’s shipping more competitive.
South Korea said that it plans to make Busan the second largest container transshipment hub, while the port of Gwangyang would become the largest industrial port.
The cruise docks plan is seen as response to a swell in cruise tourism in the country with a large increase in Chinese visitor numbers recently.
