Maritime profile: Republic of Korea

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR 2023

Population

GDP

Merchandise trade¹

51.749 Millions

1 713 568 Millions current US$

1 274 798 Millions current US$

Land area²

GDP growth

Transport services trade³

(p) 97 600 Km²

1.40 %

(e) 270 400 Millions current US$

MARITIME KEY FIGURES FOR 2023

Coast/area ratio²

Ship building⁴

Ship recycling⁴

127.8 m/km²

18 317 886 GT

13 499 GT

Fleet - National flag⁵

Fleet - Ownership⁶

18 939 Thousands DWT

2 169 ships

97 213 Thousands DWT

Number of port calls⁹

Container port throughput⁷

Number of seafarers⁸

28 502 044 TEU

(m) 27 919

105 500

WORLD SHARES FOR 2023

INTERNATIONAL MERCHANDISE TRADE

-7.5 %

Merchandise exports growth rate in 2023

Total merchandise trade

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2023

Merchandise exports

284 419

466 384

526 757

632 226

Merchandise imports

261 238

425 212

436 499

642 572

Merchandise trade balance

23 181

41 172

90 258

-10 346

Export structure by product group in 2023

(as % of total exports)

Top 5 partners in 2023

(exports, millions of US$)

INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN TRANSPORT SERVICES

-34.6 %

Transport services exports growth rate in 2023

Services exports by main category¹⁰

(as % of total services)

2005

2010

2015

2023

Transport

47.3

47.0

35.0

(e) 25.5

Travel

11.5

12.4

15.2

(e) 11.9

Other services

(e) 37.3

37.9

46.8

(e) 59.7

Total trade in transport services¹⁰

(millions of US$)

2005

2010

2015

2023

Transport services exports

23 919

38 987

34 144

(e) 31 596

Transport services imports

20 747

30 331

29 493

(e) 33 108

Transport services trade balance

3 173

8 657

4 651

(e) -1 512

NATIONAL FLEET

+20.4 %

Fleet growth rate in 2023

Carrying capacity by type of ship⁵

(Thousands DWT)

2005

2010

2015

2023

Total fleet

12 017.0

20 818.6

17 805.1

18 939.4

Oil tankers

1 325.0

2 433.0

582.9

2 710.8

Bulk carriers

7 455.0

14 505.2

12 083.8

6 551.6

General cargo

1 324.0

1 739.7

1 550.0

1 367.9

Container ships

1 213.0

855.8

1 287.1

4 111.8

Other types of ships

700.0

1 284.8

2 301.4

4 197.2

Fleet by type of ship⁵

(Number of ships)

LINER SHIPPING CONNECTIVITY

Bilateral connectivity index - Top 10 partners in Q1 2006¹¹

Can only take values between 0 (minimum) and 1 (maximum)

Liner shipping connectivity index¹¹

Average Q1 2023=100

PORT CALLS AND PERFORMANCE

Port calls, time spent in ports, vessel age and size in 2023⁹

Number of arrivals

Median time
in port (days)

Avg age
of vessels

Avg size (GT)
of vessels

Avg cargo
carrying
capacity (DWT)
per vessel

Avg container
carrying
capacity (TEU)
per container ship

Maximum size (GT) of vessels

All ships

105 500

0.85

19 713

21 528

2 990

236 583

Liquid bulk carriers

28 851

0.74

13 791

23 777

167 578

Liquefied petroleum gas carriers

4 168

0.86

8 641

9 450

55 833

Liquefied natural gas carriers

813

1.03

108 541

85 344

168 189

Dry bulk carriers

8 027

2.71

33 194

59 825

161 294

Dry breakbulk carriers

21 452

1.16

5 496

7 984

149 944

Roll-on/ roll-off ships

8 459

28 620

11 686

89 797

Container ships

23 983

0.65

32 172

2 990

236 583

Passenger ships

9 747

16 371

171 598

Port liner shipping connectivity index - Top 5 ports in 2023¹¹

Average Q1 2023=100

Source: Detailed data sources are available in the documentation of the corresponding tables in the Data Center (https://unctadstat.unctad.org/datacentre/). A link to these tables is provided in each section of the profile.


	Notes:
	1	Sum of exports and imports.
	2	Land area refers to the total area of a country excluding area under inland water bodies. It differs from the country area, that includes area under inland water bodies, but excludes offshore territorial waters. Coastline length based on data calculated in 2000 from the World Vector Shoreline database at 1:250,000 scale.
	3	Sum of exports and imports. Statistics presented correspond to the 6th edition of the IMF Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, 2009 (BPM6, 2009).
	4	Propelled seagoing merchant vessels of 100 GT and above. Source: Clarksons Research (https://www.clarksons.com/services/research/).
	5	Propelled seagoing merchant vessels of 100 GT and above, on 1 January. Source: Clarksons Research (https://www.clarksons.com/services/research/).
	6	Propelled seagoing merchant vessels of 1000 GT and above, on 1 January. Source: Clarksons Research (https://www.clarksons.com/services/research/).
	7	UNCTAD Secretariat, derived from various sources including Dynamar B.V. Publications, terminal operators and port authorities. Refers to year 2022.
	8	Refers to year 2021. Source: BIMCO-ICS Manpower Report 2015 and BIMCO-ICS Seafarer Workforce Report, 2021 edition.
	9	UNCTAD Secretariat, based on data provided by MarineTraffic (http://marinetraffic.com). Ships of 1000 GT and above.
	10	Statistics presented correspond to the 6th edition of the IMF Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual, 2009 (BPM6, 2009).
	11	UNCTAD Secretariat, generated from data provided by MDS Transmodal (https://www.mdst.co.uk).
	e	Estimated.
	m	Estimated by BIMCO/ICS based on estimates of seafarer demand.
	p	Estimated. Data refers to 2020.


	Symbols for missing values:
	0	Zero means that the amount is nil or negligible
	..	No value reported or collected
	_	Not applicable
	...	Not available, including no quotation
	#	Non-relevant calculation
	-	Not publishable
	***	Negative accumulation of flows; Value included in regional and global totals

Abbreviations & acronyms:

DWT:

Dead weight tons

LNG:

Liquefied natural gas

LPG:

Liquefied petroleum gas

GDP:

Gross domestic product

GT:

Gross tons

TEU:

Twenty foot equivalent unit

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Generation date: 11 October 2024