The amount of cargo processed at South Korea’s seaports surged 9.6 percent last month from a year earlier on growing trade and cargo passing through the country, the government said Wednesday.

The volume of cargo handled at the country’s seaports came to 112.89 million tons, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

The figure also marks a large gain from the 101 million tons processed in September.

“The amount of import-export cargo is growing despite worsening global economic conditions with the use of Busan port by global shipping companies as a base for transshipment cargo contributing to the growth,” the ministry said in a press release.

Transshipment cargo is cargo processed at a port while en route to a different final destination.

Busan, the country‘s largest harbor, is also the fifth largest port in the world. The amount of container cargo handled there jumped 19.7 percent on-year to 1.41 million 20-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) in October.

“If the current upward trend continues, the accumulated amount of container cargo processed at the Busan port will reach 15 million TEUs early next month, and over 20 million TEUs for the entire country,” the ministry said.

(Yonhap News)