The amount of cargo processed at the country`s seaports came to 1.32 billion tons in 2011, compared with 1.24 billion won handled a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.
The amount of container cargo handled at the seaports also surged 11.3 percent from a year earlier to 21.55 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs).
South Korea is the world`s fourth nation ever to have processed over 20 million TEUs in a year. Its largest port in Busan became the world`s fifth seaport last year to have processed over 15 million TEUs.
The ministry attributed the increase to a large boost in the amount of transshipment cargo, or cargo passing through the country while en route to its final destination.
"Export-import cargo and domestic cargo rose 8.2 percent and 25 percent on-year, respectively, and also the amount of transshipment cargo rose 16.2 percent on-year to 7.72 million TEUs, continuing its double-digit growth for a second consecutive year," it said in a press release.
The growth of export-import cargo significantly slowed from a 19.1 percent gain in 2010 largely due to the global economic downturn, the ministry added.
By port, the country`s largest Busan port, 450 kilometers south of Seoul, processed 16.18 million TEUs in 2011, up 14 percent from a year earlier.
The amount of cargo handled at the country`s second-largest port in Gwangyang, 420 kilometers south of Seoul, slipped 1.1 percent on-year to 2.06 million TEUs.
(A045/H-AK)
Editor: Ella Syafputri
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
