In this study, the factors influencing the port competitiveness of Busan Port, the representative port of Korea, have been reviewed with the aim to make contributions on bringing transshipment cargos that will determine the future of Busan Port.
The paper involved study and review of influence factors for port competitiveness to revitalize the Port of Busan. In general, the competitiveness factors for ports are regarded to be locations, facilities, costs, services, marketing, shipment volume, geographical placement, and conditions of surrounding regions.
However, climate was also considered to be a critical factor in this study, and a comparison analysis over the competitiveness was performed depending on the climate conditions of northern Chinese ports and Busan Port. As for northern Chinese ports, the count of days with ceased loading/ unloading due to adverse climate conditions such as hurricanes was 33.9 days on average annually (as of 2011, for 3 ports of Dalian, Qingdao, and Tianjin) compared with 6.4 days of Busan on average (average for Busan Port's container terminal), indicating that the Port of Busan enjoys a relative competitive advantage in this regard.
If such cargos experiencing delays in unloading activities could be transshipped at Busan Port, losses from delays of unloading due to adverse weather could be reduced. The volume that could be subject to transshipment at Busan Port following such delays at northern Chinese ports were estimated to be 2,787.1 thousand TEU, which is total annual delayed volume of 2,863.2 thousand TEU at northern Chinese ports less 76.1 thousand TEU currently being transported to Busan. By bringing in such volume and transshiping such cargos, Busan will be able to generate additional cargo volume.
In order for Port of Busan to bring in such cargo volume due to adverse weather at northern Chinese ports for transshipment, the port facilities must be maintained and improved, port development plans must be executed smoothly, competitive advantage factors must be promoted, exporting/ importing as well as unloading costs must be priced competitively, and active promotion and marketing leveraging the relative advantage in distance from the U.S. and Europe must take place so that the port can remain competitive in competition against the Ports of Shanghai and Ningbo that can also attempt to carry out the transshipment activities.
In this study, it was shown that the Port of Busan had competitive advantage as a port with regards to adverse climates by comparing the climate conditions of northern Chinese ports and the Port of Busan. Further, the study was meaningful in that the potential cargo volume suitable for transshipment utilizing such competitive advantages in climate conditions were estimated, and strategies to bring in the volume were presented.