(LEAD) seaport cargo-tally

▲ This file photo taken July 25, 2023, shows a pier in the southeastern port city of Busan packed with containers set to be transported. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) seaport cargo-tally

(LEAD) S. Korea's seaport cargo down 1.6 pct in Q2 amid global economic slowdown

(ATTN: ADDS more details, comments in last 2 paras)

SEOUL, July 27 (Yonhap) -- Cargo processed at South Korean seaports fell 1.6 percent on-year in the second quarter on sagging global trade amid an economic slowdown, the oceans ministry said Thursday.

Cargo handled at the country's ports nationwide came to 373.16 million tons during the April-June period, compared with 379.33 billion tons a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

Of them, export-import cargo came to 316.95 billion tons, down 0.5 percent on-year, it added.

Container cargo processed at the seaports, however, rose 2.8 percent on-year to come to 7.56 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the second quarter. Of them, processed export-import container cargo grew 4.2 percent on-year to 4.34 million TEUs.

By nation, trade volume with the United States and Japan fell 4.8 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively, in the second quarter, while that with China logged a 5 percent rise, the data showed.

South Korea's handling of transshipment cargo, or cargo processed here en route to final destinations, added 1.1 percent on-year to 3.18 million TEUs.

Non-container cargo handled at the ports fell 2.4 percent on-year to 243.96 million tons in the second quarter, the ministry said.

By item, vehicle shipments jumped 11.5 percent on-year to 23.51 million tons on smooth supplies of automotive chips, and the volume of oil inched up 0.5 percent to 106.73 million tons.

"The second-quarter container volume inched up despite global uncertainties. But it is difficult to forecast how things will unfold in the second half as container shipping rates have fallen sharply," Oceans Minister Cho Seung-hwan said.

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