Marking the 5th year anniversary of the inauguration, Ulsan Port Authority(UPA) is currently accelerating their plans named 'Oil Hub Project in North East Asia' as well as 'New Port Development Program'.

And the year 2013 would mean a lot to the port of Ulsan as a 50th anniversary. Recently we had a chance to interview Mr. Chong Rok Park, a CEO of UPA, and asked some questions about plans for the progress of the port of Ulsan.

Q. It's been half year since you took office. What are the main projects you are presently laying emphasis on?

We have fixed 'Oil Hub Project in North East Asia' as a next generation growth engine for Ulsan. This project might have tremendous economic ripple effect to the region inasmuch as it was selected as one of 100 major government projects by the current regime.

For smooth operation of the above-mentioned project, UPA has decided to focus on developing infrastructure in North Port program and now we are getting everything in readiness.

Q. It is known that 'Business Development Team' was founded to promote business diversification. What would be the tasks of a new team and what sort of added value do you think could be gained through its operation?

Just like other enterprises, UPA is also pondering over the future growth engines. Business Development Team was established to find a new business in this context.

The first activity came as an attraction of logistics companies that could create added values through developing a hinterland in the port of Ulsan. Ultimate tasks of the Business Development Team will be to create UPA's new business items and enhance the position of Ulsan port to the public.

Q. The vision of Ulsan port is known as 'A liquid cargo-oriented first class port'. What preparations are being made to fulfill the vision?

We are setting up the strategy and road map for the co-development among various industrial groups that form the port of Ulsan. Further, the port's medium and long-term development strategy is being made to find a progressive turning point.

UPA will try to make the port of Ulsan a main base in North East Asia through successful implementation of an oil hub project and expansion of tank facilities by attracting global companies specialized in liquid cargo.

Q. Liquid cargo traffic in the port of Ulsan has been steadily increasing. It must be a result of intensive port sales activities. Could you summarize the outcome of recent activities for port marketing as well as its future plans?

Since foundation of UPA, we have carried out diverse marketing activities targeting shippers and tank terminal operators in Singapore, Netherlands and Japan. I do believe it has certainly affected cargo increase in Ulsan.

Recently we signed the MOU with Dutch based tank terminal operator to expand investment and increase traffic. A Japanese enterprise also came and surveyed the sites to examine the conditions for investment in the port of Ulsan. UPA is considering port sales visit to Ningbo and Tokyo for Chinese and Japanese enterprises later this year.

Q. As opposed to liquid cargo, container traffic shows a decreasing trend. It is said that only 30% of containers coming from the Ulsan hinterland area is handled in Ulsan port and the rest go to the port of Busan. What is your policy to attract regular container lines and container cargoes?

Given the port capacity and facilities in Ulsan, oceangoing cargoes in Europe and North American route cannot help using the port of Busan. It clearly makes us avoid unnecessary competition against Busan in the years ahead.

Above all, we will concentrate on expanding China and South East Asian route, which is a requirement of shippers in Ulsan region, to achieve cargo attraction and logistics cost reduction for shippers. Now we are talking with shipping companies for this.

Q. Ulsan new port container terminal(Ulsan I Port) opened in July 2009. How about the current status of traffic in this terminal? As far as we know, the terminal is experiencing imbalance between inbound and outbound cargoes. What would be the solution to this?

Monthly average 20,000 TEUs have been handled since the opening. The ratio of in & outbound containers is not a question of a specific terminal but a question of the whole port, which shows a serious imbalance at the rate of 1:9.

Such imbalance is basically caused by export-oriented industry in Ulsan area, however, we will do our best to induce big shippers to use the port of Ulsan for the cargoes imported via Busan.

Q. As of 5 July, UPA is marking the 5th anniversary. How do you assess its performance since the inauguration?

There are a number of remarkable outcomes, I think. The first should be traffic increase. Last year, the traffic of the port of Ulsan hit a record high handling 194 million tons boosted by active marketing campaign towards shipping companies and shippers and upgrading competitiveness through service improvement. Such efforts enabled UPA to have consecutive surpluses since the inauguration, to be concrete the surplus of 18.5 billion Won in 2008, 23.9 billion in 2009, 20.6 billion in 2010 and 23.9 billion in 2011.

Secondly UPA has expanded a lot of port infrastructure so as to increase cargo volume. 3 berths at Yeompo pier and 5 berths at New Port 1-2 phase are currently being operated and additional 4 berths at New Port are scheduled to open.

Another subject we are heavily concentrating on is so-called 'Oil Hub Project in North East Asia', which is to build a petroleum logistics base inside the port of Ulsan. This is highly expected to create jobs and activate local economy.

Marking 4th anniversary in 2011, we announced the vision under the name of 'A liquid logistics-oriented first class port' which proposed the direction of UPA's medium and long term development. This year on the 5th anniversary, we are going to dedicate ourselves to 'Oil Hub Project in North East Asia' and 'New Port development program'.