Empirical Analysis of Influence Factors to Container Throughput in Korea and China Ports *

Over the past years, the Eastern Asia has become an important market in world shipping network. Container throughput of China ports like Shanghai and Qingdao shows a significant expansion. Similarly, Korea ports' container throughput has been on the rise, although the growth trend has recently slowed down. This paper examines the relationships among container throughputs of Korea and China container ports, and identifies factors which determine container throughputs for Korea and China ports based on the empirical data collected from the year 2001 to 2007, and finally compares the differences of port industry between Korea and China. According to the analyses, in the case of Korea ports, geographical position and service level were the most important factors, however, in the case of China ports, hinterland economic level and government attitude were the most important factors to the container throughput.