Container Squeeze in South Korea Throws Exporters into Costly Gridlock

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  • thousands of exporters like Dongkwang struggling to move their goods through Busan
  • the world’s 7th busiest container port, where terminals handle over 59,000 containers daily to process about 75% of all shipping for the country

While the shipping squeeze caused by the pandemic is a global problem, the congestion at a transit hub like Busan has made things worse for smaller Korean exporters says an article on Reuters.

South Korea’s container squeeze

“China is the black hole in this shipping crisis, all the carriers are headed there,” said Lee, owner of Dongkwang International Co. in Busan which makes about 20 billion won ($17.60 million) in annual revenue.

Booking trawlers is one-way businesses in the world’s seventh-largest exporting nation are trying to overcome critical bottlenecks caused by the pandemic, particularly a shortage of shipping containers.

Thousands of exporters like Dongkwang are struggling to move their goods through Busan, the world’s 7th busiest container port, where terminals handle over 59,000 containers daily to process about 75% of all shipping for the country.

Ships diverted

While the shipping squeeze caused by the pandemic is a global problem, the congestion at a transit hub like Busan has made things worse for smaller Korean exporters.

When Yantian, one of China’s busiest ports, was partially shut down in June to control virus cases, some cargo was diverted to neighboring ports such as Busan, worsening the backlogs and periodic delays.

“It’s a transit hub with so many in and outs. We need to ship 30 containers a month but have only been able to secure about 70% to 80% of that,” said Lee at Dongkwang International, adding that his company recently raised prices due to higher shipping costs.

 

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Source: Reuters