International Passenger and Cargo Traffic by Ship set a Record High
The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs says that passenger and cargo transport by international ships has made a new record at the first half of this year thanks to recent economic recovery and growing demand for travel and international cargo transport.
The number of passengers who have traveled by ship during the first half of this year amounts to 1,289 up by 32.7% compared to the same period of last year, exceeding the highest record of 1,266 in the year of 2008.
This is largely due to the surge in outbound tourists as economy and foreign exchange rate are stabilizing, and increased number of Chinese tourists in Korea also helped.
By routes, passenger traffic on Korea-China routes recorded at 682,000 up by 32,5% compared to last year thanks to new route opening and increased tourists.
As for Korea-Japan routes, demand of Japanese tourists for high speed passenger ships decreased after low cost air carrier services started. However, the overall passenger traffic increased to 580,000 up by 30.3% compared to last year thanks to the remarkable growth in the number of Korean group travel to Japan.
Korea-Russia-Japan routes also showed 142% increase in passenger traffic since more new routes have been open to service.
Furthermore, container cargo transport by car ferry also sharply increased to 266,000 TEU, up by 39.5% compared to last year, surpassing the highest record of 253,000 TEU of the first half of 2008.
Especially, Korea-China and Korea-Japan routes have set new cargo transport records at 202,000 TEU and 63,000 TEU respectively as the export of car parts, LCD panels, electronic goods and the import of agricultural products, clothing and miscellaneous goods have skyrocketed.
The Ministry expects passenger and cargo transport by passenger ship will set a new record soon again at the second half of this year as the transportation is continuously growing this year. However, it will make more efforts to create specialized services exclusively available in international passenger ships in order to maintain the increase in passenger and cargo sea traffic.
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