Korea woos foreign lines with discounts

SOUTH KOREA has taken decisive action to reverse poor port performance figures through the introduction this month of a volume incentive system. According to Schednet News, high-volume shipping companies will be offered discounts of up to 50% on transhipment cargo handling fees at Korea’s two major ports, Pusan and Kwangyang. This year, Pusan throughput was overtaken by Shanghai as the Chinese port’s cargo handling volume rose by 34% compared to a year earlier, to 9.23 million TEU through to October. Pusan’s volume, by contrast, grew 11% to 8.56 million TEU.