Shipping lines skip Busan due to capacity issues

South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said that liner operators have been omitting calls to Busan, reportedly because Chinese shippers are more willing to pay higher freight charges.
Citing data from Busan Port Authority, the ministry said that from the beginning of this year to 10 July, 6,767 container ships entered the country’s busiest container port, a decrease of about 700 (9%) compared to the same period last year.
THE Alliance, comprising Hapag-Lloyd, ONE, Yang Ming and HMM, is among those skipping Busan. From 19 July to 15 August, the alliance’s MD2 Asia-Mediterranean service will not stop at Busan.
To maintain schedule reliability and prioritise container allocation, liner operators have been skipping ports that are perceived to be less important, said Linerlytica analyst Tan Hua Joo, who told Container News that the situation is not unique to Busan.
Chinese ports Qingdao and Tianjin have also been affected, even though Tianjin is the main port serving Beijing.