Invest in TaiwanDepartment of Investment Services, MOEA
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Sea transportation is vital to Taiwan's international trade. In 2003, Taiwan’s commercial fleet totaled 235 vessels (over 100 gross tons each) totaling 3,827,173 gross tons. The total volume of shipping that year was 1,119,825,000 tons, the total import and export cargo volume was 182,062,939 tons, and the total number of passengers carried was 362,521.
Applications from Kaohsiung Harbor and Keelung Harbor to become free trade ports were approved in March 2004, and the two free trade ports begin operations in January 2005 and September 2004 respectively. The four major functions and services of free trade ports include "single-window" management, free internal flow of goods, autonomous corporate management, and the freedom for international business people to engage in commercial activities within the area. The establishment of free trade ports will facilitate fast and convenient transport services.
Located along trade routes between Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, and China, Kaohsiung Harbor straddles shipping lines linking Asia, Europe, and the Americas. With its favorable geographical position and fine natural deep-water port, Kaohsiung Harbor is well equipped to handle large modern ships and handles two-thirds of Taiwan's import/export cargo. In 2003, the harbor handled 429.64 million revenue tons of cargo and a total of 8,843,000 TEU of cargo container traffic, making Kaohsiung the world's sixth busiest container port. Due to the projected increase in container traffic, preliminary planning and assessment for an offshore container center and a sixth container center begun in 2002. Once these facilities are completed, shippers will enjoy even more convenient container handling services. Under the government's plans to develop Taiwan as a global logistics center and free-trade port zone, Kaohsiung Harbor is seen as Taiwan's pre-eminent marine transport center. In conjunction with government policy, domestic and foreign investment will be welcomed for port facility construction and operations, and private operators will be allowed to engage in wharfside loading and unloading. The new port facilities will include logistics centers, wharfs, and warehouses, and will also handle added-value operations. In addition, Kaohsiung Harbor will continue to adjust its fee rates in a reasonable manner, while improving service quality and operating efficiency to meet the needs of shippers.
A natural harbor set in an advantageous geographical position, Keelung is the main entry and exit port for containers in northern Taiwan. With development aimed at the Asia-Pacific sea lanes, Keelung is actively expanding Taiwan’s maritime transportation to cover Northeast, East, and Southeast Asia. In order to flow with trends in shipping development, Keelung harbor is working towards renovating and expanding existing port facilities. In addition, the Keelung Harbor authorities are currently studying the possibility of a diversified preferential harbor fee program to compete in docking for both offshore and inshore shipping. The harbor is actively developing an import CY container operation and attracting transshipment/container forwarding goods sources. At the same time, it is increasing its operations efficiency and drafting plans to utilize existing facilities and resources as fully as possible, develop goods flow and free trade port operations, and attract private funds to invest in the construction and operation of port facilities. Furthermore, Keelung plans to use the spirit of enterprise process reform to create a diversified operations approach and set up a harbor refueling station business. In the area of information services, the emphasis is on the customer, fulfilling the customer’s needs and providing a convenient, integrated system while working toward the establishment of a high-quality industry supply chain system medium. This will strengthen integration between global customers and cooperating partners, while cultivating an internationalized and globalized operations approach. In addition, a port leisure area will be built to help create an environment of harmony between city and port, and develop Keelung Harbor into a multi-functional port which will attract both overseas and local investment.
Taichung Harbor is located on the central west coast of Taiwan, about 110 nautical miles from both Keelung Harbor in the north and Kaohsiung Harbor in the south. Taichung Harbor is an important communications hub for the import and export of cargo in central Taiwan. In order to make good use of its extensive scale -- 960 hectares of water area and 2,800 hectares of land area divided into various commercial harbor facilities and specialized areas – the harbor is encouraging private development. With these extensive facilities, Taichung Harbor is well positioned to serve as a free trade port and export processing, warehousing, and transshipment hub capable of enhancing added value. An extensive road system and upgraded hardware and software amenities allow the harbor to serve the shipping needs of central Taiwan's industry as well as tourism and recreation.
Hualien Harbor is located in the northeastern part of Hualien City on the east coast of Taiwan. It is a man-made port protected by a breakwater extending in an east-west direction. Hualien Harbor faces the Pacific Ocean to the east, and is sheltered by the Central Mountain Range in the west. It is eastern Taiwan's only international port. The harbor's extensive port facilities currently include 25 wharves with a cargo handling capacity of over 34 million tons per year, adequately meeting the industrial development of eastern Taiwan. To raise operating efficiency and competitiveness, harbor authorities are actively working to improve port facilities and operating conditions. Proposed programs include the implementation of incentive measures, the strengthened application of information technology, and the improvement of port marketing work. The government hopes to create a superior operating environment, provide extensive port facilities, and offer convenient, efficient services that attract private investment, and has set forth plans that cover the establishment of a new operations management center, tourism enhancement, and shipping development. The harbor also intends to comply with these plans by continuing to expand existing shipping and warehousing services and also actively introducing various new services. These new services at Hualien Harbor will include tourism and recreational services, the establishment of a free trade port area, port logistics services, and cargo transshipment services.
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