Park Jong-rok, president of Ulsan Port Authority (UPA), was presented with the Presidential Award during the 38th Korea National Quality Award Convention that took place at COEX in southern Seoul on Nov. 21.

UPA has been credited with making sustainable and innovative efforts such as the establishment of a quality management regime designed to realize its goals of becoming a liquid logistics hub port since its inception in July 2007 as a public entity for the purpose of developing, managing, and operating Ulsan port facilities and promoting specialization and efficiency.

Commenting on UPA’s winning of the presidential award, Park said his authority will redouble efforts to implement a project of developing Ulsan Port into a Northeast Asia oil hub, ushering in a new era of a futuristic Ulsan Port without a hitch and upgrade Ulsan Port’s services to the levels of advanced countries. 

UPA, with a 55-member staff, is seeking to pursue sustainable growth by embracing management efficiency and the government’s policies to upgrade management to the standards of advanced countries as well as quality management and other advanced management methods. The authority is striving to build a foundation for enhancing management achievements in accordance with a vision established in 2011 prior to the designation of UPA as a quasi-market type public enterprise. 

The authority is in charge of handling a water area of 116 sq. km within the port and land area of 1.34 million sq. meters as well as piers with a combined length of 18,248 meters, capable of accommodating 107 ships at one time, and a storage area covering 540,000 sq. meters. The port posted 59.1 billion won in sales and profits for the fifth straight year by logging a record high of 193.75 million tons of cargo volume in 2011.

UPA is working on the timely expansion of port infrastructure, the establishment of an efficient port operation system, and the implementation of a Northeast Asia oil hub project. In particular, the authority is pushing ahead with the national task of developing the port into an oil hub port with a competitive edge comparable to world-class ones, which is expected to lead not only to the strengthening of the port’s functions, but also to the boosting of the dynamics of the national economy and the creating of added values. 

The authority plans to draw up the “Ulsan Port 2030” vision in September 2013 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the port, calling for the establishment of future port development strategies and roadmaps for promoting the co-existence of the diverse industrial ecosystems. It has become the first public entity to be certified with the ISO 14001 environment management standard. UPA is striving to establish sustainable management by setting action plans in ethics, environment, and social sectors while trying to pursue shared growth with the local community and customers.  

GEOLOGICAL FEATURES°™ Ulsan Port, on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula, prospered as the largest domestic trade port from the era of Silla (AD 6C) by exporting steel to Japan. 

Ulsan Port, formerly called Yoem Port, was opened early in the Joseon Dynasty as one of three leading ports (Busan Port, Je Port, Yoem Port). In modern times, UIsan Port was the natural fishing port of heaven’s blessing where whaling and fishing was flourishing. In this way, Ulsan Port has been a port for trade and fishing as well as a naval port with a long history.

Ulsan Port reopened on Sept. 25, 1963 as the largest port for the purpose of supporting an infrastructural industrial complex. Ulsan Port has an advantageous natural environment in that the water is not only deep but tideless. Ulsan Port is divided into Ulsan Main Port, Onsan Port, Mipo Port, and Ulsan New Port.