DP World has announced a US$50 million investment to develop a new logistics centre in Busan New Port, strengthening the port's position as a logistics hub for Northeast Asia and reinforcing the global standing of the wider Busan-Jinhae Free Economic Zone (BJFEZ) in business and logistics.

Construction of the facility on the 75,000 sqm land is set to commence at the end of 2024, with operations expected to start by the second quarter of 2026.

In a statement, DP World said the DP World Busan Logistics Centre (BLC) will have the capacity to process nearly 80,000 TEUs of cargo per year by 2028 and offer comprehensive value-added logistics services such as assembly, processing, and packaging to local and regional customers.

"With this major investment, DP World will be able to combine our strong freight handling and multimodal transportation capabilities with new warehousing and logistics solutions to provide customers in South Korea with a more seamless end-to-end supply chain offering," commented Glen Hilton, CEO & Managing Director, Asia Pacific, DP World.

"The DP World Busan Logistics Centre will cement Busan New Port's position as a key supply chain hub for Asia Pacific and thus empower local and international businesses to seize the expanding opportunity in intra-Asia trade," he added.

DP World said in the announcement that the BLC plans to specialise in exports of completed automobiles, automotive parts and materials, fishery equipment, machinery and other key Korean industry outputs.

BJFEZ is the third-largest free economic zone in South Korea, with 700 million people living within a 1,200km radius.

A gateway to Eurasia and the Pacific, the economic zone is developing a mega "Logistics Tri-Port", which will span sea, air and land ports, including Busan New Port, the forthcoming Jinhae New Port, the forthcoming Gadeok International Airport and the Busan New Port Freight Station with rail connections to parts of Eurasia.

DP World already has a significant presence in South Korea. Through its subsidiary, Pusan Newport Company (PNC), it operates the largest terminal in the Port of Busan, the world's second-busiest transhipment port.

​In 2020, DP World also acquired a majority stake in UNICO Logistics, a Korean multimodal transport and rail specialist with a large footprint in East Asia, Central Asia and Russia.

As part of the US$50 million investment, DP World said it will integrate operations of the new BLC with freight handling solutions from PNC and UNICO Logistics' transcontinental rail freight services.