IPA Named "Cleanest" Among Public Firms

The port authority wins the honor for two years in row, plans to use IT in all phases of operations

The Incheon Port Authority (IPA) has won the honor of being the most untainted organization in the public sector in Korea in a survey conducted by the National Rights Committee in 2008, a repeat of the honor it won in 2007. The port authority got 8.8 points out of 10 in the survey conducted on 381 state-owned companies and organizations in Korea, making it the fairest and most incorrupt one in the country, the authority said recently.
President Kim Jong-tai said it is a great honor for the organization to win the honor for two years in a row, which is owed to every officer and staff member doing their jobs honestly. He said he will continue to push the port authority to keep up with its efforts to create a desirous and clean culture and continue to keep winning the hearts and minds of customers.
The port authority has its work cut out for it this year. One of them is the critical need for the support areas of harbors to cope with the rising volume of cargoes going in and out of Incheon. President Kim, during an interview with the press, said the port authority is working on the A-am project to reclaim the sea in front of the A-am No.1 logistics complex at Incheon Harbor. The area is 2.8 million square meters wide and the No. 2 A-am logistics complex is to be built on the reclaimed land, equivalent in space to Yeouido, at a cost of 300 billion won by 2013, Kim said.
The IPA plans to get approval for its project in the first half of this year and launch the project on reclamation work, which will expand the background area for the port to enhance its competitive edge over rival ports in Northeast Asia.
Another problem that the IPA is faced with is the separate operation of the No.1 and No.2 International Terminals, resulting in passengers sometimes getting lost when searching for the proper terminal.
President Kim said the government set up a plan by which both terminals will be relocated to a site to the west of the No.2 A-am logistics complex. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance confirmed the economic benefit of the move and the project will soon be launched, Kim said.
The projected new International Terminal will be completed in 2014 in time for the 2014 Incheon Asian Games at the cost of 580 billion won. The project will also include the construction of a car ferry wharf with room for six ship berths, and a pier for cruisers with an exclusive terminal.
Kim said the new international terminal would provide a huge contribution to the local economy and attract foreign tourists.
President Kim said the competition among ports would become more intense due to the economic slump. The time when harbors only had to expand its facilities to enhance its competitive edge has passed. They now have to provide differentiated services from the competition to gain the edge and survive. Incheon Harbor, too, will not be able to survive or move ahead in the new environment if it doesn't have services different from those of its competitors, Kim said.
Kim said he will make the Incheon Harbor an IT port to the extent that information on incoming ships and cargoes handled and their movements can be checked in real time and conveyed to customers. The work will require a heavy overhaul of the port's IT facilities, Kim added, but it is needed to overcome the economic crisis by expanding the cargoes passing through the port and encourage those who work for the vendors and suppliers of the port.
Kim, who studied maritime economics at Wales University while he was in London as a maritime affairs attache, said he was able to learn to see things in macro dimensions and that flexible thinking is the key to success in the operation of harbors. Kim also said that he gained management know-how indirectly through contacts with CEOs of shipping and logistics companies.
The CEO said he has been stressing filial piety to the employees to have the IPA's organization and office culture based on that virtue because it is the source of all virtuous acts and all teachings and makes us see things other than ourselves. nw

An aerial view of Incheon Port and its vicinity from the air.

President Kim Jong-tai of the Incheon Port Authority.