SEOUL, July 30 (Yonhap) -- Cargo processed at South Korean seaports fell 4.8 percent from a year earlier in the second quarter on continued uncertainties in the global trade environment stemming from the ongoing Middle East tensions, the oceans ministry said Thursday.

Cargo handled at the country's seaports nationwide came to 375.95 million tons during the April-June period, down from 394.99 million tons tallied the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

Of the total, export-import cargo totaled 318.01 million tons for the three-month period, down 5.6 percent from a year earlier.

Container cargo processed at seaports, however, went up 0.6 percent on-year to 8.32 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in the second quarter.

Of these, 4.5 million TEUs were export-import cargo, down 0.9 percent from the previous year.

Shipments to and from the Middle East plunged 54.6 percent over the cited period, while those to and from the United States and Vietnam fell 9 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively.

Shipments to and from China and Japan, on the other hand, rose 7.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

The volume of transshipment cargo, or cargo processed here en route to final destinations elsewhere, increased 2.2 percent on-year to 3.78 million TEUs.

By port, Busan processed 6.46 million TEUs of cargo in the second quarter, up 0.5 percent from a year ago, while the port of Incheon handled 900,000 TEUs, up 1.9 percent.

The oceans ministry attributed the quarterly decline in cargo handling to lingering uncertainties caused by the conflict in the Middle East, affecting the global logistics and energy market.

brk@yna.co.kr

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