Dongwon to pour KRW200bn into Busan New Port automation

Dongwon Global Terminal Busan will invest roughly KRW200 billion by 2028 to expand automated container handling at Busan New Port, deepening South Korea's lead in fully automated terminal operations.

The company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone Authority, South Gyeongsang Province and Changwon City at an investment event in Seoul on 20 October 2026. The money targets the West Container Terminal area of Busan New Port, one of Asia's busiest transshipment hubs.

The spend covers three things: additional automated guided vehicles, new container-handling equipment, and advanced terminal operating systems. Dongwon expects the build-out to strengthen Busan New Port's smart-port capabilities and create 88 new jobs.

What does this change for carriers and shippers?

It builds on a proven base. Dongwon opened South Korea's first fully automated container terminal at Busan New Port in April 2024, and that facility already runs a full chain of automation. Automated guided vehicles move boxes. Automated container cranes lift them. One integrated operating system controls unloading, transport and storage.

The terminal has also switched to electrically powered equipment, which cuts operating costs and trims the environmental footprint of each move.

For carriers calling Busan, more automation typically means tighter berth productivity and more predictable turnaround. For shippers routing transshipment cargo through the port, that translates into fewer dwell-time surprises. And for Dongwon itself, the KRW200 billion commitment signals confidence that volumes through Busan New Port will keep growing enough to justify the capital.

The wider deal goes beyond containers

The MoU isn't only about boxes. Medical supplies manufacturer Young Chemical signed on as the second party, and its commitment is larger in area if smaller in won.

Young Chemical plans to invest KRW100 billion by 2029 in a new medical supplies and cosmetics manufacturing plant in the second phase of the Ungdong hinterland area, in Jinhae-gu, Changwon. The facility will span approximately 33,000 square metres and is expected to create 60 jobs.

Add the two together and the agreements bring KRW300 billion of investment and 148 jobs into the Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone.

The siting matters. A manufacturing plant in the port's hinterland feeds cargo directly into the terminal network — and an automated terminal next door lowers the cost of moving it. Free economic zone status, meanwhile, sweetens the economics for both companies.

The Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone Authority said it will work with South Gyeongsang Province and Changwon City to support the administrative and permitting procedures both projects need.

Why the 2028 deadline matters

Dongwon's window runs to 2028, and the equipment orders and system integration work will need to start well before then to hit it. That pace fits a broader pattern: Asian hub ports are racing to automate as vessel sizes grow and labour pools tighten, and Busan's transshipment market share depends on staying ahead of rivals offering faster turns.

If the expansion lands on schedule, Dongwon's Busan operation will enter 2029 with more automated capacity, more electric equipment and a stronger claim on schedule-sensitive transshipment cargo moving through the Korea Strait.