Cargo handling through ports in South Korea shot up in February, recovering to the volume shown before the economy was battered by the global financial crisis, Yonhap reported.

Cargo traffic in the country rose 1.1 percent from the same month in 2008, before the economic crisis hit the global market, to 1.35 million TEUs in February. The figure represented a 25.8 percent rise from a year ago.

"South Korean ports' cargo handling volume appears to be on track to top this year's target of 17.5 million TEUs as the accumulated volume reached 2.82 million TEUs in the first two months of the year, normally an off-season for ports," an official from the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said.