Vice Minister Nam Jae-heon said on the 2nd that, regarding the creation of the Honam semiconductor cluster, "we are reviewing support measures for port facilities to establish an offshore wind power generation complex."
The Vice Minister stated accordingly at a briefing with the press corps held at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries in Busan that "there is a pier at Mokpo Port used exclusively for offshore wind power. We plan to further expand this pier."
The Vice Minister added, "we will support the functions of installing port-facility wind power equipment to meet the wind power demand needed in the West Coast zone and transporting subsea cables."
On "seawater desalination," which has been mentioned as a way to resolve the shortage of water in the Honam region, he drew a line, saying, "we do not even have a demand assessment yet on exactly how much water is needed and how short we are such that desalination is required," and "for now, this is not a situation where we can talk about concrete discussions." He added, "it does not seem like something to review when there has been no mention of demand."
Regarding the pilot operation of the Arctic route being pushed for in Aug. this year, he said, "we are in the very final stage of finding a ship," adding, "we are in the last stage since the diplomatic aspect is also critical." On shipper recruitment, he said, "we have secured about 1,300 TEU of cargo for now. But there needs to be a plus alpha," and "once the vessel and the (operation) schedule are finalized, we will secure additional cargo."
On the route conditions, he said, "this year has seen the most Arctic sea ice melt since 2012," adding, "last year, a Chinese vessel sailed from Ningbo to the United Kingdom without an icebreaker escort. The navigation conditions have changed a lot from the past."
Regarding the situation of Korea's vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, he said, "24 out of 26 of our country's ships have exited. Of the remaining two, one is the HMM Namu and needs repairs, and the other has yet to determine its destination."