Cargo traffic at Korea's seaports increased slightly from a year earlier in July on a growth in shipments of import-export cargo with the amount of transshipment cargo also climbing, the government said Monday.
The volume of cargo handled at the country's seaports came to some 113.2 million tons last month, up 1.4 percent from the same month last year, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.
Container cargo processed at the seaports also rose 0.8 percent on-year to 1.91 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs).
The ministry attributed the increase to a rise in the amount of import-export cargo, which grew to some 1.19 million TEUs from 1.17 million TEUs in July 2011.
The growth in the amount of import-export cargo came despite a large drop in the country's trade last month. The country's overall exports plunged 8.8 percent on-year to $44.6 billion in July with its imports also shrinking 5.4 percent to $41.9 billion.
The amount of transshipment cargo at the country's seaports continued to increase in July, but only by 0.4 percent, which is the lowest rise in the rate this year.
"The growth of transshipment cargo slowed significantly last month due to various factors that include a global economic downturn and slowing economic growth of China," the ministry said in a press release.
Transshipment cargo refers to goods processed while en route to a final destination, often to change means of transportation.
The country's largest port in Busan, 450 kilometers south of Seoul, processed 1.45 million TEUs last month, up 1 percent from the same period last year. The amount of cargo processed at the country's second-largest port in Gwangyang, 420 kilometers southwest of Seoul, gained 5.3 percent on-year to 184,000 TEUs. (Yonhap)