Oceans ministry to require safety inspections of large port equipment under revised Port Act

The oceans ministry said Tuesday it will require precision safety inspections for aging large port facility equipment and expand reporting duties for equipment taken out of service, under a partial revision of the Port Act promulgated the same day.

The revision, announced in advance of the new law taking effect on Oct. 27, 2027, one year after promulgation, takes effect immediately in three provisions: the clauses tied to renewable energy and carbon neutrality in Articles 2 and 30, a technical cleanup of references to the Electrical Safety Management Act, and a rule on the number of inspections.

Under the revision, operators of port facility equipment must report a temporary suspension of use when it results from a port development project or similar work, and report again when use resumes. The report must state the reason for the suspension and how long it will last. Use cannot resume until the equipment passes a resumption inspection.

The revision also targets large equipment. Units in service longer than a period to be set by ministerial ordinance must undergo a precision safety diagnosis or a precision safety check conducted by the managing authority, with the first such examination a full diagnosis rather than a check. If the diagnosis finds repairs or reinforcement are needed, the authority can order the facility manager to correct the problem. A transitional clause extends the requirement to large equipment already past the age threshold when the law takes effect; those units must be diagnosed within a period set by ministerial ordinance counted from the enforcement date.

Using large facility equipment without the required diagnosis or check carries a fine of up to 10 million won ($7,551). Failing to comply with a corrective order is newly punishable by up to a year in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries oversees port development and facility safety under the act. The filing did not say how many pieces of equipment or which ports would be affected by the new inspection duty.