Number of ferry users between Incheon and 10 Chinese ports tops 1 mln

INCHEON, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- The annual number of passengers using ferries between South Korea's western port of Incheon and 10 Chinese cities has surpassed the 1-million mark this year for the first time in eight years, port authorities here said Monday.

According to the Incheon Port Authority, the figure was provisionally tallied at 1,003,030 between Jan. 1-Dec. 19.

It's the first time the annual figure crossed the 1-million line since 2011, when it recorded 1,043,230, the agency said.

The Incheon-Shidao route was the busiest with 187,000, trailed by the Incheon-Lianyungang one with 137,000, the Incheon-Weihai one with 130,000, the Incheon-Dandong one with 111,000, the Incheon-Tianjin one with 97,000 and the Incheon-Qingdao one with 87,000.

Others were the Incheon-Yentai line with 79,000, the Incheon-Dalian one with 71,000, the Inchoen-Yingkou one with 43,000 and the Incheon-Qinhuangdao one with 11,000.

The annual number plunged to some 600,000 in 2017, when the two countries were in a diplomatic row over South Korea's deployment of the U.S. missile defense system on its soil.
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