South Korea's container shipping sector showed signs of recovery this month following a protracted slowdown in the overall shipping industry, data showed Saturday.
The business survey index (BSI) of the shipping industry as a whole came to 84 for September, up from 73 the previous month, according to the results of a survey of 101 local shipping firms released by the Korea Maritime Institute.
A reading below 100 means pessimists outnumber optimists, while a reading above that benchmark means the opposite.
By sector, the BSI of the container-shipping sector stood at 106 for September, up from 69 a month earlier. It marked the first time that the BSI reading surpassed the 100 mark since November last year, when it hit 100.
A separate index gauging container-shipping firms' profitability stood at 135 for September, up 66 from a month earlier.
South Korea's shipping industry is still reeling from the fallout from Hanjin Shipping Co.'s bankruptcy last year.
Hanjin Shipping -- previously the world's seventh-largest shipper -- was put under court receivership in September last year as its creditors rejected a self-rescue plan and refused to save the failing business. It was declared bankrupt in early February.
Hanjin Shipping, established in 1977, and other local shippers had been groaning under severe financial strain because of falling freight rates stemming from an oversupply of ships and a protracted slump in the world economy. (Yonhap)