Taiwan's Kaohsiung Port will have an open bid to lease out terminal 75 when current tenant Maersk leaves in August. The Kaohsiung Harbour Bureau confirmed the move and dismissed speculation that Kaohsiung port had asked China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) to take over the terminal.

A senior bureau official was reported as saying that the port authorities would put the terminal out for open bidding rather than carry out private negotiations with individual companies.

China's largest shipping firm COSCO has expressed interest in investing in Taiwan as cross-strait relations between Taiwan and China improve. It was reported earlier that COSCO and China Merchants Holdings were each considering taking a 20 percent stake in the Yang Ming container terminal in Kaohsiung. COSCO's container terminal company COSCO Pacific had also indicated interest in investing in Kaohsiung port.

Tracey Jia