Busan, Korea
Port · KRPUS · 35.09°, 128.94° · Mineral Products, Metals, Vegetable Products
- in force · 60 nm
- 0
- issued · 30 d
- 0
- archive messages
- 6
- vessel calls / yr
- 19,994
About the port
The World Port Index lists Busan as a large coastal breakwater harbour with excellent shelter.
Listed depths: 13 m in the channel, 13 m at the anchorage, 16 m at the cargo pier and 6 m at the oil terminal, with a mean rise of tide of 1 m.
Entry can be restricted by other conditions.
Largest vessel listed: draft 15 m.
Pilotage is compulsory.
Repair facilities are rated moderate, with a large drydock.
Busan is a first port of entry.
PortWatch estimates 18,966 port calls at Busan from Sep 2025 to Aug 2026, about 1,581 a month, 4% fewer than in the twelve months before.
By vessel type, container ships 60%, general cargo ships 18% and tankers 15% of those calls.
Estimated cargo over the same months: 76 million t imported and 69 million t exported.
The busiest month was Mar 2026 (1,646 calls) and the quietest Aug 2026 (1,461).
What is reported near this port
6 warnings in this archive have their reported position within 60 nm of Busan, the earliest issued in 2001; the most common types are ordnance (3), incidents (2) and surveys (1).
Distance is measured to each warning's reported point or area centre, so a warning near Busan is not necessarily about the port; collection is incomplete between 2024-05 and 2026-08-17.
Port calls per month · IMF PortWatch estimates
Oct 2024 – Sep 2026 (last bar: month in progress) · last complete month Aug 2026: 1,461 calls, 6.3 million t in, 5.9 million t out
Warnings within 60 nm, by year of issue
In force within 60 nm · 0
Nothing in force within 60 nm right now.
Disruption events listing this port · IMF PortWatch
- HAISHEN-20 · tropical cyclone · red alert · 2020-08-31 to 2020-09-07 — Tropical Storm (maximum wind speed of 250 km/h)
- MAYSAK-20 · tropical cyclone · red alert · 2020-08-28 to 2020-09-02 — Hurricane/Typhoon > 74 mph (maximum wind speed of 231 km/h)
PortWatch lists the ports inside each event's affected area; being listed does not mean the port was damaged or closed.
Port characteristics · World Port Index
- harbour
- large coastal breakwater
- shelter
- excellent
- water body
- Korea Strait; North Pacific Ocean
- NAVAREA
- NAVAREA XI
- depths
- channel 13 m · anchorage 13 m · cargo pier 16 m · oil terminal 6 m
- mean rise of tide
- 1 m
- largest vessel
- draft 15 m
- entrance restricted by
- other; not ice, swell, tide
- overhead limits
- yes
- turning area
- yes
- good holding ground
- yes
- pilotage
- advisable, compulsory
- tugs
- assistance
- traffic and reporting
- ETA message required
- berthing
- wharves
- cranes
- fixed, floating, mobile
- services
- dirty ballast reception, garbage disposal, longshore labour, medical
- supplies
- deck stores, diesel, engine stores, fuel oil, provisions, water
- repairs
- moderate
- drydock
- large
- marine railway
- medium
- first port of entry
- yes
- sailing directions
- Sailing Directions Pub. 157 (Enroute) - Coasts of Korea and China
- chart
- 95151
World Port Index entry Busan (No. 60390), matched by UN/LOCODE. NGA Publication 150 (U.S. government work). The index describes the port as last surveyed for the publication; it is not a substitute for Sailing Directions or port authority information.
Share of Korea's maritime trade through this port (PortWatch): imports 17%, exports 31%.
Chokepoint and port data: IMF PortWatch (portwatch.imf.org) — IMF and the University of Oxford, via the UN Global Platform. Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA / coastal broadcasts and port authority notices.