The Korean-made Port Cranes initiative began out of a sense of urgency. In South Korea, trade accounts for 84.6% of the nation’s GDP, and due to its geographic situation, 99.9% of that trade is conducted through ports, with 76.8% of all containers in the country being handled at Busan Port.
Given this, Busan Port plays an extremely important role for the South Korean economy. However, compared to the past (Busan North Port) where 89% of the cranes were domestically produced, the recent situation (Busan New Port) has seen imported cranes monopolizing 86% of the market due to price competitiveness and other factors. In response to this situation, Busan Port Authority felt a sense of crisis and decided to undertake a project to order domestically-produced port cranes to maintain and enhance the competitiveness of local companies.
Moreover, since there has been no domestic crane manufacturing for a long time, we also promoted the localization of core technologies through R&D to enhance the practical and sustainable competitiveness of the Korean crane industry. Building on the successful implementation of this project, we plan to continue expanding related initiatives, such as introducing Korean-made port crane in the 2-6 terminal, which is scheduled to open in 2027.