Main ports around world generate added-value through assembly, reprocessing and packaging of semi-finished products in the hinterlands or services such as supply of ship stores, ship refueling and ship repairing provided to ships to use ports.
It can be seen that the Port of Busan has taken geographical advantage that it is located on main lines in the world to use the relatively low port dues as a main competitive method.
The Port of Busan handles 47% of the total export cargoes and 95% of container throughput in Korea and has focused on loading & unloading and handling of container traffic. Now, the Port of Busan needs to make a leap from a mere port to handle container traffic to a value-added port.
It can be considered that the amount of value-added related industries of the Port of Busan is low because port services such as ship repairing, supply of ship stores and ship refueling have not been activated due to the policy has been focused on increasing the container traffic.
In order to develop the Port of Busan as a high value added port, it is necessary not only to develop various strategies for port operation but also to establish a development system with port related industries.
Based on the advantageous location, superior technology, abundant labor force and research facilities, ship repair industry of the Port of Busan has been long recognized as a local specialized industry. Therefore, it is considered that the Port of Busan has a very high potential of high value added ship repair industry. From this perspective, this study aimed to propose the development direction of the ship repair industry by analyzing the conditions of the ship repair industry at the Port of Busan.
This study was conducted with the following objectives:
First, this study aimed to propose the direction of improving the ship repair industry and marine equipment industry by examining the characteristics of ship repair industry, and the structure & environment of global ship repair industry and also by understanding changes in market and competition of ship repair industry and marine equipment industry.
Second, this study considered the relation between port facilities at the Port of Busan and ship repair industry and marine equipment industry.
Third, this study attempted to present an industrial model of expensive ship's engines and development direction of the ship repair industry for the creation of high added value of the Port of Busan.
As improvement of the ship repair industry and marine equipment industry of the Port of Busan, this study proposed to develop a large-scale ship repair complex, to enhance collaboration with the marine equipment industry and to take advantage of being an anchorage site as the hub port in Northeast Asia.
There are a lot of industrial fields capable of creating added value in ports as follows: supply of ship stores, ship refueling, ship repairing, container repairing, piloting and towing and finance.
The Port of Busan should be flexibly connected with various industries such as ship repairing, marine equipment, supply of ship stores, environment and marine fuel supply. Only a port capable of creating added value using this can develop into an advanced port.
However, this study presented only activation of ship repair industry as a method to create high added value of the Port of Busan. In future research, it will be necessary to study port related industries such as offshore plant, marine equipment, ship management and marine tourism for the creation of high added value of the Port of Busan.