Incheon's new int'l ferry terminal to be completed in June

The construction of Incheon's new ferry passenger terminal, linking the western South Korean port to 10 Chinese cities, will be completed next month, officials said Monday.

The Incheon Regional Office of Oceans and Fisheries and the Incheon Port Authority said they will begin a pre-delivery inspection of New Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal Tuesday ahead of its completion slated for June 15.

The construction of the new passenger terminal began in December 2016 with an investment of 154.7 billion won ($131 million). At present, the completion rate is 94 percent. The total floor area of the terminal is 67,000 square meters, which is larger than nine soccer fields combined.

This provided file photo shows New Incheon Port International Passenger Terminal under construction in the port city, west of Seoul. (Yonhap)

The new terminal is about twice the total area of the 25,000-square-meter 1st Incheon International Ferry Terminal, which provides ferry services to 10 Chinese destinations, and the 11,000-square-meter 2nd Incheon International Ferry Terminal.

It will be formally opened in December after a pilot operation of customs, immigration and quarantine services. All South Korean and Chinese ferry companies will move into the new terminal.

By then, the 1st terminal will resume a regular ferry service between Incheon and Jeju Island, suspended after the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014, officials said.

South Korea and China have 16 regular ferry routes between their ports, with 10 departing from Incheon, five from Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, and one from Gunsan, North Jeolla Province. (Yonhap)