Policy Approach to the Improvement of the Coastal Shipping in Korea

Policy Approach to the Improvement of the Coastal Shipping in Korea

  The potential for the increase in use of coastal shipping in Korea is significant given the problems in the road and rail transport modes that persist today. In Korea,the existing capacity of both road and railway is no longer able to cope with the increasing traffic volume. In this respect, the purpose of this study is to establish the mission and objectives for improvements that should be made in the container coastal shipping sector in Korea. Coastal shipping has numerous advantages over rail and road transport, such as more efficient energy consumption, better environmental protection and higher transport security (traffic accidents, dangerous goods, etc.). It offers additional storage capacity and experiences no traffic jams. When we examined coastal shipping in Europe where coastal shipping is well developed, it is noticeable that the coastal shipping sector is operated and controlled in a well-established environment. Especially prevalent are the technological developments in the coastal transport operation, together with the policy. Therefore, it can be recommended that there should be improvements concerning some of the relevant issues affecting the operators, the ports, the technology, and the institutional aspects of this market. This study believes that these actions would take away thresholds in using the system, and stimulate the competitiveness of coastal container shipping services in Korea.