South Korean Seaport Cargo Rises 1.5% in Q1 Amid Middle East Tensions

Cargo processed at South Korean seaports grew 1.5 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter, showing limited impact from the Middle Eastern conflict, the oceans ministry said Wednesday. Cargo handled at the country's seaports nationwide came to 388.45 million tons during the January-March period, up from 382.89 million tons tallied the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. Of them, export-import cargo totaled 327.48 million tons, also up 1.5 percent on-year, the ministry said. Container cargo processed at seaports, however, went down 1.2 percent on-year to 7.87 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the first quarter. Of these, 4.21 million TEUs were export-import cargo, down 1.9 percent from the previous year. Shipments to and from the United States fell 10.2 percent, while those for Vietnam dropped 6.98 percent. Shipments to and from China and Japan, on the other hand, rose 2.4 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively. The volume of transshipment cargo, or cargo processed here en route to final destinations elsewhere, went down 0.7 percent to 3.6 million TEUs, according to the ministry. By port, Busan processed 6.14 million TEUs of cargo in the first three months of this year, down 2 percent on-year, the latest numbers showed. This decline is attributed to the normalization of shipments following the sudden surge in the first quarter of 2026 triggered by U.S. tariff policies. The port of Incheon handled 810,000 TEUs, up 1.1 percent on-year, while the volume of cargo processed at Gwangyang went up 5.2 percent to 494,000 TEUs. Non-container cargo handled at seaports nationwide gained 1.7 percent on-year to 249.63 million tons in the first quarter. "Despite lingering uncertainties caused by the conflict in the Middle East, the impact of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz appears to have had limited impact on port cargo volumes in the first quarter," Oceans Minister Hwan Jong-woo said, vowing continued efforts for smooth operation of the shipping sector.