[March. 2nd, 2017. Incheon, Korea]

The quantity of exports transported to the US through Incheon Port that was mostly imports in the past is on the steady increase.

On March 2, Incheon Port Authority (www.icpa.or.kr, CEO Bong-hyeon Nam) announced that the quantity of exports transported to the US that had been 0 ton until last November was increased to 1,200 tons (about 60 TEU) by the end of February.

Since HNS (Hyundai New Start) Express Route that had opened a service in Incheon New Port in June 2015 was reorganized to reduce calling ports and shipping time from November 2016, the quantity of exports transported to the US has been remarkably increased.

According to Incheon Port Authority, Company V, an auto parts manufacturer, and Company L, a chemical industry products supplier, account for most of exports transported to the US.

The HNS Route is a transpacific route covering LA, Busan, Incheon and Shanghai and was reorganized by transforming the previous service route that covered LA, Auckland, Busan, Gwangyang, Qingdao and Shanghai in November. The restructuring made it possible to shorten the period of export from Incheon Port to LA that took as many as 18 days in the past to 15 days.

Hyundai Merchant Marine operating the HNS Route is promoting its services to shippers in an effort to attract shipments transported to the US in the capital area while raising expectations for increase in export shipments transported to the US in Incheon Port as shippers express their satisfaction with pertinent routes.

IPA expects that more proactive promotion on the express route will gradually diversify the types of cargoes.