South Korea’s Busan port has set itself an aim to handle 20m teu in
2017, improving from the 19.85m teu handled in 2016, according to Busan
Port Authority (BPA).

Last year’s throughput rose by 2.7% from the 19.46m teu recorded in
2015, figures from BPA showed.

The port authority, however, is anticipating transhipment cargoes in
2017 to drop by 3% year-on-year due to cargo losses from the bankruptcy
of Hanjin Shipping and a reshuffling of container carrier alliances
from this year.

BPA said it will continue to bolster its marketing efforts to increase
cargo volumes and new services in order to attract volumes from regions
with growth potential including Southeast Asia, South America and the
Middle East.

Earlier this year, BPA said it secured a 2017 budget of KRW670.2bn
($564.3m), which will go toward port construction, the Busan North Port
development and investment, port facility maintenance, and incentives
such as attracting transhipment cargoes.