Container cargo handled at South Korea's seaports rose 13.2 percent on-year in July amid the country's increasing trade, the government said Monday.

   The amount of cargo handled at the country's seaports reached a new monthly high of 1.89 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs), compared with 1.67 million units a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

   The July tally also marked the fifth consecutive month the amount of container cargo shipped in and out of the country's ports exceeded 1.8 million TEUs, the ministry said.

   "Export-import cargo was earlier feared to decline due to fears of a double-dip recession in the United States and the spread of a financial crisis in Europe," the ministry said. "But it is now expected to continue growing in the second half as shipments to and from newly emerging markets, such as China and Russia, are increasing."

   The amount of export-import cargo rose 8.4 percent on-year to 1.15 million TEUs in July when the country's exports and imports jumped 27.3 percent and 24.8 percent, respectively.

   The amount of transshipment cargo, or cargo handled here while en route to a different final destination, jumped 21.1 percent to 702,000 TEUs, marking a double-digit increase for the fifth consecutive month.

   By port, cargo handled at the country's largest port in Busan jumped 17 percent to 1.45 million TEUs.

   The amount of cargo processed at Gwangyang port, 420 kilometers south of Seoul, dropped 2.2 percent from the same period last year to 1750,000 TEUs. The figure, however, marks a 17.6 percent increase from the previous month when the port was still under the influence of an injection of new ships by shipping companies in May that led to a temporary drop in cargo.

Source: Yonhap News (August 8, 2011)