Taiwan's Kaohsiung Harbour is planning to build a deep-water container terminal to attract the world's largest container ships.
According to Harbour Master Tsai Tingyi, the terminal would consist of five 17-metre-deep wharves, which are to become the deepest wharves in Taiwan.
Kaohsiung Harbour, as Taiwan's largest port, was, in the early 1990s, the world's third-largest container port. Due to the expansion of foreign ports and Taiwan's ban on sealinks with China, however, its world ranking soon slipped, falling to the eighth rank in 2007 and the twelfth in 2008. Sea links with China were re-established in December 2008.
In January 2008, Kaohsiung Harbour began to boost its global competitiveness by building the International Container Harbour. This new deep-water terminal is part of this development. The harbour has five container terminals with a total of 23 wharves. Three wharves will have depth of 16 metres while the others will average a depth of 14.5 metres.
Foreign shipping companies and port operators have been invited to put money into the terminal, and China's COSCO has already signed a letter of intent for investment.
Tracey Jia