20년간 잊혀지지 않는 슬픔의 가시

Korea’s Busan port, the world’s fifth-busiest, handled 1.6 percent more containers in 2006, the smallest gain in 16 years, on growing competition from terminals in Shanghai, Dalian and other Chinese cities.
The port processed 12 million 20-foot standard containers last year from 11.8 million a year earlier, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries said on its Web site.
That is the slowest pace of growth since 1990 when the ministry started to compile the data. The container volumes handled by the port last year beat the record in 2005.
China is expanding its ports in Shanghai and other cities to meet growing container demand. It is aiming to turn Shanghai into the world’s largest port by 2010 with the opening of the $16 billion Yangshan deep-water port in December 2005. With its new capacity, Shanghai is taking customers from Busan for transshipment, which accounts for half of the Korean port’s traffic.
Transshipment accounted for 43 percent of volume last year at Busan. In December, it handled 1 million boxes, 4.9 percent more than a year earlier. Busan is adding 30 new berths and lowering fees as it tries to attract more cargo to compete with rivals in Shanghai, Dalian and other ports in China. The Korea port began using new berths in January 2006, a year ahead of schedule.