An Analysis of Ship’s Waiting Ratio in the Korean Seaports

Abstract

Port congestion has been recognized as one of the critical factors for port service competitiveness and port selection criteria. However, congestion ratio, the congestion index currently used by Korea, plays a very limited role in shipping companies’ and shippers’ selection of port and port authorities’ decision making regarding port management and development. This is mainly due to the fact that this ratio is only calculated as the ratio of the number of vessels by each port. Therefore, this study aims to measure service level related to vessel entry and departure in Korea ports by evaluating waiting ratio(WR) according to terminals and vessel types. The results demonstrate that the waiting ratio of containerships and non-containerships is less than 4% and 15% respectively, which satisfies the reasonable level suggested by the UNCTAD and OECD. Port of Pohang is revealed to have the highest WR of 57% and among the terminals, No. 1 Terminal of the Shinhang area has the highest WR. In terms of ship types, WR of Steel Product Carrier is highest, followed by General Cargo Ship and Bulk Carrier at the Pohang Shinhang area. In addition to WR, berth occupancy ratio as well as the number and time of waiting vessels can be utilized to evaluate service level by ports and terminals from port users’ perspective, and furthermore, to improve the port management and development policy for port managers or authorities.