The total amount of cargo processed at South Korea's seaports rose 2.3 percent on-year in October, fueled by steady growth in global trade, government data showed Thursday.
According to the data by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, total volume handled reached 101.77 million tons last month,
compared with 99.45 million tons a year earlier. The tally represents a monthly high for October.
The report also showed that in the 10 months of this year, cargo handling at local ports reached 984.48 million tons, a gain of 11 percent from the same period a year earlier.
The October increase is seen as a sign that local ports have fully recovered from last year's worldwide slump that seriously affected trade
Increased volume of automobiles, coal and sand contributed to the gain, according to the report. Handling of automobiles surged 33.1 percent
on-year, with volumes of coal and sand moving up 12.4 percent and 16.2 percent, respectively.
The ministry said volume at the port of Pyeongtaek, located about 70 kilometers south of Seoul, soared 40.6 percent on-year, while the amount for Busan, the country's largest seaport, contracted 11.6 percent as textile and plastic trade fell off.
The number of shipping containers handled at all South Korean seaports, meanwhile, increased 9 percent in October to 1.61 million TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, according to the ministry. For the January-October period
container handling reached 15.94 million TEUs for a gain of 20 percent from the year before.