[Incheon Port Authority Press] Incheon Port News Nov-2. 2018

[Incheon Port News Nov-2. 2018]

This mail is for sharing information about Incheon Port.

1. The frame construction of Incheon New International Passengers Terminal has been completed

Progress rate is over 50%... the infrastructure is taking shape

Construction is under smooth sail... will be completed by or before June next year

The roof embodies the shape of the wave of the Five Oceans.

○ The new international passenger terminal of Incheon Port, which is scheduled to open in June next year, is now seen to be taking shape.

○ According to the Incheon Port Authority (IPA) on April 4, the construction of the new passenger terminal of Incheon Port (total area 67,000m2, five floors above the ground) is under construction with a total investment of 200billion Won from December 2016 to June 2019.

○ The progress rate of the new passenger terminal is now over 50%, and the roof construction will be finished on the frame this month and inside constructions will be carried out in winter.

○ The shape of the roof of the new passenger terminal of Incheon Port, which is now revealed, embodies the waves of five seas with five curves. The roof was made of various types of steel columns such as V-shaped and X-shaped pillars to emphasize the curves.

○ Inside, the terminal consists of a walk to see the sea and various convenience facilities. IPA has a plan to operate an international car ferries in 10 routes between Incheon and China in the second half of the next year after opening.

○ "Although it is not easy to construct such an atypical roof structure, it is expected that the new international passenger terminal of Incheon Port will be positioned as a landmark of Incheon following Incheon International Airport and Incheon Great Bridge," said Shin Yong Beom, vice president of IPA Construction Division. “We will do everything till completion”, he added.

○ Meanwhile, last October, IPA held the 'Art work creation and installation contest' to be installed on the site of the new construction project of the new international passenger terminal of Incheon Port.

2. Incheon Port establishes a new sea route between North China and South East Asia

Built to accommodate 4 ships of the 5,000TEU Class or higher

Expects an increase of container cargoes

○ It is expected that the logistics service will become more convenient after establishing a new container route between Incheon Port, North China and South East Asia.

○ Incheon Port Authority (Nam Bong Hyeon, President) announced on January 1 that the vessel, Rotterdam (5,446 TEU Class) belonging to COSCO, which was put into the new NCT service, plans to enter SunKwang New Container Terminal (SNCT) on November 7th. 

○ Incheon Port Authority (Nam Bong Hyeon, President) announced on January 1 that the vessel, Rotterdam (5,446 TEU Class) belonging to COSCO, which was put into the new NCT service, plans to enter SunKwang New Container Terminal (SNCT) on November 7th. 

○ As such, vessels which are two times bigger than those which sailed North China and South East Asia can now be accommodated since all the aforementionned 4 vessels have a load capacity 5,000 TEU or more. 

○ In addition, the efficiency of returning empty 'containers' by shippers will increase while it will also greatly contribute to the increase of container cargo volume of Incheon Port due to an increase of space provided by the use of large vessels.

○ The container cargo volume between Incheon and Laem chabang(Thailand) was the fourth largest contributor to the cargo volume in Incheon with 120,000 TEU based on last year, while ports in North China, such as Qingdao and Dalian still rank within 10 for container cargo volume. 

○ The Incheon Port Authority official said, "We are actively promoting the route to export-import shippers and forwarders in Seoul Metropolitan area so that the new service operation of Incheon Port will find stability in the near future. We will not cut back our support for the improvement of service quality” On the other hand, after the establishment of the NCT route, Incheon Port will provide 47 regular container services.

3. ‘Marine Elevator' Lock Gate of Incheon Port overcomes the 3rd Tidal Basin in the World

"NGB passed the Incheon Bridge. It will arrive at the lock gate at 10:20"

○ At 10:10 AM on the 19th of last month, a radio was heard at the control tower of Incheon Port. It was sent by a pilot who boarded a ship entering Incheon Port. The vessel, called 'NGB', is the 'New Gold Bridge No. 7', a 31,000-ton class large car ferries between Incheon Port and Weihai, China. In order to enter the 2nd passenger terminal in Incheon inner port, it is necessary to pass through this gate, so the pilot provided the necessary information to the gate control tower. 

○ New Golden Bridge 7 appeared in front of the lock gate at 10:20 AM. Around the lock gate, a warning sound was heard, and the outer lock gate weighing 1,050 tons was slowly opened. As the ship entered the waterway, the outer lock was closed and the anchors began to secure the ship with 4 wires dropped from the ship. Kang Seok-Hyun, the manager of the lock gate operation team at Incheon Port, said, “the height of the surface of the outer port should be adjusted. We are fixing the ship because it can strike the wall in the process of filling the waterway with water."

○ When the ship is fixed, water enters the waterway. At 10:20 on the day, the level of the outer harbor is 4.7m and the height of the sea surface of the inner harbor is kept at least 7m. Kang said, "If the water level of the inner harbor is high, water is sent from the inner port side to the water channel. If the ship enters the waterway and the water level of the outer port becomes high, then the water is poured to the sea port"

○ The Port of Incheon, which opened in 1883, had to overcome the tidal basin of 9 ~ 10m which is the third largest in the world. Since the tidal basin was exposed at the time of ebb tide, it was difficult to get a big boat because of this, when the ship was docked off the coast of Incheon, a small ship approached and carried a load with people.

○ In the novel 'Opium War' written by Kim Tak-Hwan and Lee Won-Tae, it depicts the early Incheon port. 'Incheon is shallow and has no pier yet, so foreign merchant ships do not reach the seaside right away. The flat bottomed bulk goes out and attaches to the merchant ship. The passengers and the goods must be transported to the bulk"

○ As the cargo volume through Incheon Port increases, Japan wanted to have a berth through which ships could always enter the port regardless of the tide. Thus, in 1911, the construction of port facilities was started. On October 27, 1918, Korea 's first modern lock gate was installed at Incheon Port.

○ According to the five-year plan for economic development, which began in 1962, the economy grew at a rate of 7 ~ 8% at that time. This is because of the rapid increase in the volume of commodities and consumer goods in Gyeongin Industrial Area. However, Incheon Port facility inside the gate was only 4,500 tons Class 3 berths, which made it difficult to handle the traffic volume in the metropolitan area. 

○ In 1964, the government launched the second berth construction project for the Incheon Port, and the Current Incheon Port was installed in 1974. The first lock gate built 100 years ago has sunk under the sea. Currently, some traces can be seen around Incheon Port 1 Pier. Incheon port lock gates have been operated by two waterways, 50,000-ton class which can be used for ships with maximum length of 306m and width of 32m and 10,000-ton class which is 215m in length and 19m in width.

○ As the environment has been improved, the export of Incheon Port has started to increase. According to Incheon Port Corporation, Incheon Port exports surged from USD317,913,000 in 1973 to USD599,418,000 in 1975, the year after the completion of the gate. In 1978, it topped USD 1 billion for the first time ever. Until the opening of Incheon South Port in 2004, the Incheon inner harbor was not able to cope with the ships that rushed to Incheon Port. In 1999, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (MND) published a plan for establishing and restructuring port functions in metropolitan areas. The demurrage rate was 48.2% in 1999. The demurrage rate is the percentage of vessels that have waited more than 12 hours before the ship can berth on the pier. Forty-eight of the 100 ships waited more than 12 hours before entering Incheon Port. Incheon Port was the highest among all ports in Korea. At that time, the average length of the ship was about 70 hours long.

○ Vessels looking for inner port have been shrunken by opening North Port and New Port following Incheon Port. According to the Incheon Port Authority, the number of vessels entering and leaving Incheon lock gate has been steadily declining to 13,141 in 2005. In 2010, when North Port, the port of bulk cargo unloading was opened, 8,395 ships entered passed Incheon lock gate and in the last year where the 4th berth of inner harbor of Incheon Port stopped operation, only 5,052 ships used the lockgate. The number of inbound and outbound vessels has decreased by 60% compared to 2005. Lastyear's trade volume also dropped to 23,533,700tons, which is half of the 45,290,000tons in 2004, when the cargo volume was the greatest.

○ With the development of the loading equipment, it is possible to load and unload the ship regardless of the depth of the water, so they didn’t like to use the lock gate which requires at least 30 minutes for loading and unloading. However, the inner harbor in the lock gate is still worthy as the harbor. Kim Ik-bong, the manager of Incheon Port Corporation., who worked at the lock gate since 1978, said, "Since the height of the sea surface is constant for 24 hours and the water is calm, it is suitable for loading and unloading precision machines and vehicles", We are working with a pride that this lock gate has led to the development of Incheon Port," he added.

4. Cruise Port Sales to Prepare for the Opening of the Incheon International Cruise Terminal

Port Sales for Cruise Lines and Travel Agencies in Tianjin, China, on the 20th

○ Incheon Port Authority (www.icpa.or.kr) announced that it participated in cruise port sales in Tianjin, China on the 20th and developed an all-encompassing, cruise attraction activity.

○ At these port sales, Incheon Port Authority and Incheon Tourism Organization introduced cruise status of Incheon Port and tourist sites of Incheon for cruise lines and travel agencies in China, and also held a meeting with the Tianjin Cruise Yacht Association to discuss mid-to-long-term cooperation plans.

○ In particular, they intensively focused on providing information about the opening of the Incheon International Cruise Terminal scheduled for April next year, focused on attracting cruise ships from China. Two Chinese officials, including the Tianjin Cruise Yacht Association President, promised to visit the cruise terminal opening ceremony.

○ As a follow-up to the Memorandum of Understanding concluded on November 2nd, the conference was held to co-promote public relations for investors and to jointly attract the North-South cruise lines leading to Tianjin in China ∼ Incheon in South Korea ∼ Nampo in North Korea.

○ Youngkuk Kim, General Manager of the Passenger Terminal Business Team participating in these port sales, said, he will build a Korean-Chinese cruise network and improve the convenience for tourists with the aim of making Incheon become the center of Northeast Asian cruises after opening the Incheon International Cruise Terminal.

See in detail on the attached file.

If you have any feedback, comment or questions, please e-mail mykim08@icpa.or.kr

Thank you