South Korea’s Incheon Port began providing 24/7 service on July 1 with an initial 37 companies joining the program, Incheon Port Authority (IPA) announced.
In a statement, IPA said the firms—four loading companies, 13 transport companies, 15 warehouse owners and five service companies—started nonstop operations at the port at the beginning of the month, enabling shippers, ship owners, and transport companies to transport, load, and offload cargo at any time.
In order to provide smooth 24/7 service, IPA will continue to recruit companies willing to operate nonstop, said the statement.
“The 24/7 service will allow customers such as shippers, ship owners and transport companies access to Incheon port without regard to time. Import and export companies can access services either at night or in the early morning and transport cargo to any desired location,” said IPA.
The idea of 24/7 port operations had been brought up back in 2014 by ship owners, warehouses, and truckers to Yoo Chang-keun, CEO of IPA, after Yoo took office that year.
“Their persistent backing of 24/7 operation led Yoo to seriously review a 24-hour management plan and devise a blueprint to put such a plan into practice,” said the statement.
Since Incheon New Port opened in June last year, Incheon Port has opened new routes one after another, including ones bound for the U.S. and the Middle East. It also saw an 8.8% increase in the number of ships docking, up from 7,550 in 2014 to 8,211 in 2015.
