Busan Port, the world's second largest transhipment port, will expand the application of the transhipment monitoring system to all shipping companies in the second half of this year to solve the problem of "inter-terminal transhipment," which has been a major obstacle to enhancing its competitiveness.

The Busan Port Authority (BPA) announced on the 16th that it plans to expand the blockchain-based transhipment monitoring system 'Port-i', which is currently being piloted for domestic shipping companies, from next month and introduce it to all shipping companies using Busan Port in the second half of the year.

Busan Port, which recorded the largest transhipment volume of 13.5 million TEU (1 TEU is equivalent to one 20-foot container) last year, inevitably has to transfer cargo to other piers due to its dualized system of operating 7 terminals in the New Port and 3 terminals in the North Port.

The problem is that inter-terminal transhipment requires double handling charges and additional cargo transportation costs, and also reduces efficiency due to transhipment delays, which acts as a stumbling block to Busan Port's transhipment competitiveness.

In order to solve this problem, the Busan Port Authority developed Port-i last year as part of the blockchain-specialized cluster development project with Busan City and the Ministry of Science and ICT, and has been piloting it for domestic shipping company HMM since this year.

Port-i connects all container terminals in Busan Port to an integrated platform to support shipping companies using Busan Port to check ship, cargo, and berth information in real time.

It is expected that using Port-i will solve the problem of information disconnection between shipping companies and terminal operators, increase ship loading rates, and optimize terminal operation.

An official from the Busan Port Authority said, "As of last year, 36% of the transhipment cargo at Busan Port was inter-terminal transhipment cargo." He added, "The burden on shipping companies was significant, with annual additional costs from inter-terminal transhipment reaching 200 billion won, but the introduction of Port-i will not only reduce costs but also significantly improve transhipment efficiency."