The South Korean government has made a plan to invest of total of KRW41.8 trillion ($35bn) for the development of 12 ports across the country by 2040.
Under the plan, the government has made targets to expand cargo handling capacity at the 12 ports to 1.85bn tons by 2040, from 1.32bn tons in 2017, while increasing container handling capacity to 48.73m teu from 27.17m teu in 2017.
The government plans to make KRW16.08 trillion investment directly, with the remaining KRW25.77 trillion to be raised from the private sector.
KRW13.6 trillion will used to upgrade Busan Port with the addition of 21 berths and expansion to cater for 25,000 teu containerships. Busan Port is currently the sixth largest container port in the world, completing a container volume of 21.87m teu in 2018.
Additionally, South Korea will also create two new ports – one cruise port in Jeju Island and one cargo port in Donghae on the east coast.
