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A protracted strike by unionized truckers is disrupting the operation of Busan port. Officials there say Korean ships will choose other Korean ports like Gwangyang but warn that foreign shipping companies will move to overseas ports offering reliable loading and unloading services.
Busan Harbor¡¯s North Port was crammed with containers on Wednesday afternoon, the sixth day of the strike organized by the Korea Cargo Transport Workers Union. Containers are usually stacked in three layers, but these days there are five or six. The yards of the Busan International Container Terminal Operator in Gamman and the Busan Gamman Container Terminal are 90-100 percent filled with containers. The situation is similar at ordinary ports like the central wharf and No. 3 and 4 wharves. The wharves each have space to keep only 200-1,000 containers. The computer system has broken down at those smaller wharves, nearly halting their operation.
With Busan port in near crisis, foreign shipping companies face an emergency. The amount of containers will be heavier over the weekend than during weekdays, making the situation worse. Already the number of large container carriers docking in Busan has dwindled from 42 and 40 late last week to 30 on Monday.
An official at Maersk Line, the world¡¯s largest shipping company, said the company will have to think about using Japanese or Chinese ports if the strike continues until this weekend. U.S. shipping company APL is considering moving its mother vessel from Korea to Shanghai or Yokohama after this weekend, having earlier changed routes and used Busan¡¯s New Port and Gwangyang port in addition to North Port in Busan.
An official at the Busan Port Authority said the prolonged strike by truckers has hurt the image of Busan, which is famous for its rapid and stable operation. He warned of a possible exodus of foreign shipping companies from Korea¡¯s largest port.
If foreign shipping companies move to ports overseas, Busan port will be dealt a tremendous blow. When truckers striked in May 2003, foreign shipping companies like Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and China Shipping decided not to use port.
The volume of containers handled in Busan grew 10 percent the following year, but the growth rate slowed down to 3 percent in 2005 and 1.7 percent in 2006. In terms of the amount of containers it handles, Busan is the world¡¯s fifth largest port, down two notches from its earlier ranking and now behind Chinese ports like Shanghai and Shenzen.
The truckers¡¯ strike is capable of dealing a huge blow to the reputation of Busan as the largest transshipment port in Northeast Asia if it continues. The departure of foreign shipping companies would lead to a plunge in the amount of transshipped containers, which account for 44 percent of cargo handled in Busan. Some 5.8 million containers were transshipped in Busan last year. In terms of the amount of containers transshipped, Busan is the world¡¯s third largest port, following Singapore and Hong Kong.
Shipping companies have been reluctant to use Japan¡¯s Kobe as a port of call since a deadly earthquake hit the port in 1995. After the disaster, many shipping companies moved to Busan. But with the truckers¡¯ strike protracted, Busan would likely face a similar fate. Busan¡¯s wharf operators, transport companies and port authority have done their utmost to win foreign shipping companies back over the past four years, and the volume of cargo handled here grew 10 percent last year. But if the strike continues, all these efforts will have been in vain.
Nam Ki-chan, a logistics systems engineering professor at Korea Maritime University in Busan, said the strike ¡°must be settled at the earliest to save Busan, and the port¡¯s cargo transport system should upgraded to the international level as soon as possible.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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