Pusan Pier 8
35°05'N 129°06'E
The Port of Pusan is located on the southeast coast of the Republic of Korea. The port city of Pusan is Korea's second largest city with a population of six million. It is also Korea's principal seaport. Camp Hialeah serves as home to soldiers, airmen and sailors who are assigned to commands residing in the Pusan area, to include Pier 8, the Pusan Storage Facility, the Defense Reutilization Management Office, and a variety of commands working out of Kimhae Air Port, west of Pusan. Most of what supplies US Forces, Korea, soldiers and their families is processed by the Army-run 1317th Medium Port Command at Pier 8. In 1994 the port handled 305 ships with about 10,000 shipping containers carrying 600,000 tons of assorted cargo. Pier 8 is the only place in Korea for clearing outbound and inbound personally owned vehicles, or POVs. About 2,500 vehicles were processed in 1994. The port is part of the Military Traffic Management Command, and is linked to ports around the world through an electronic data interphase system. For example, the cargo manifest and other documents of a ship inbound from Italy can be electronically passed on to the Pusan port.
Pusan Harbor, the Republic of Korea's principal deep water port, is divided by Yong Do (island) into northern and southern harbors. Each of the harbors is further divided into inner and outer harbors. North Harbor accommodates deep-draft ocean-going vessels, while South Harbor is used primarily by coastal vessels. Unless otherwise stated, references to the Port of Pusan in this study will specifically apply to the North Harbor.
Pusan has designated anchorages inside and outside the outer breakwater as well as in the inner harbor. US Navy ships use the anchorages on either side of the outer breakwater while the inner harbor anchorages are used exclusively by commercial vessels. The designated nuclear power anchorage was moved from inside to outside the outer breakwater in 1993. The outer anchorage does not offer any protection from southerly winds or seas. As a result, liberty boat and ferry runs to/from vessels anchored in the outer anchorage are often cancelled whenever wind speeds approach 30 kt. Each of the anchorages used by U. S. Navy ships offers good holding on a mud bottom.
The North Inner Harbor is composed of several piers, quays, and deep-draft anchorages. Most of the facilities are privately owned and not available for use by U. S. Navy ships. Pier 8 is controlled by the U. S. Military Sealift Command, however, and is frequently used by U. S. Navy vessels. Pier 8 is large enough to handle very large ships, with Forrestal class aircraft carriers being accommodated in the past. The pier has 29.5 to 32.8 ft (9 to 10 m) depths alongside, but if greater depths are needed, ships are breasted out as necessary to deeper water. Pilotage is compulsory at Pusan. Harbor tugs are available, with 1 to 2 days notice of tug requirements advisable. Other facilities at the port include heavy lift cranes, dry docks, and other equipment normally associated with a busy, deep-water port.
As of September 1993, an extensive construction project was underway to fill a portion of the outer harbor in order to build a container pier, and fill a relatively shallow portion of the inner harbor to accommodate the development of additional, unspecified port facilities. T In addition, plans call for the future development of new port facilities in several sections of the inner harbor, and the eastward extension of the easternmost outer breakwater to the coastline. Local harbor personnel state that such construction would not likely occur until after the year 2000, however.
The astronomical tide range in Pusan Harbor is relatively small, ranging from a spring rise of 4 ft (1.2 m) and neap rise of 3 ft (0.9 m). Currents are correspondingly weak, about 0.6 kt. However, higher velocities are observed during maximum ebb and flood flow at two locations: (1) at the drawbridge in the narrows between Yong Do and the mainland between the North and South Inner Harbors, and (2) in the channel between the breakwaters separating the North Inner and Outer Harbors.
