Taiwan Kaohsiung Port '08 cargo volume down 5.7% to 9.67 million TEUs
?Taiwan's Kaohsiung Port registered a 5.7% drop in cargo volume last year on increased competition from Asian ports and lower shipping demand due to the global crisis, the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau said Friday.
Kaohsiung Port handled 9.67 million twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs, down 5.7% from the year-earlier 10.25 million TEUs, the bureau said in a statement.
It was the first annual decline in the port's cargo volume since 2005, when volume dropped 2.5% to 9.47 million TEUs.
"Faced with increasing choices and the growth of the Chinese economy, as well as the impact from port growth in neighboring countries, some shippers ship goods directly to the U.S., and Europe, bypassing Kaohsiung Port," the bureau said in the statement.
Kaohsiung Port, the third-busiest in the world in 1999, dropped to number six in 2006 and number eight in 2007, overtaken by the fast-growing Qingdao and Shanghai ports.
Taiwan's Economic Daily News, citing data from the China Shipping Gazette, reported Friday that Kaohsiung Port last year lost its place as one of the world's 10 busiest ports.
Shieh Ming-Hui, director general of the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau, said earlier he expects cargo volume to rise by one million TEUs in 2010 because of Taiwan's shipping links with China.
Taiwan and China agreed in November on closer transport ties, including direct cross-strait shipping links.
The bureau is also developing the Kaohsiung Port Container Center project. After completion in 2013, the additional four large container berths will be able to accommodate container ships with a capacity of up to 12,000 TEUs, and will add 2 million TEUs of cargo volume annually.
Kaohsiung Port handled 9.67 million twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs, down 5.7% from the year-earlier 10.25 million TEUs, the bureau said in a statement.
It was the first annual decline in the port's cargo volume since 2005, when volume dropped 2.5% to 9.47 million TEUs.
"Faced with increasing choices and the growth of the Chinese economy, as well as the impact from port growth in neighboring countries, some shippers ship goods directly to the U.S., and Europe, bypassing Kaohsiung Port," the bureau said in the statement.
Kaohsiung Port, the third-busiest in the world in 1999, dropped to number six in 2006 and number eight in 2007, overtaken by the fast-growing Qingdao and Shanghai ports.
Taiwan's Economic Daily News, citing data from the China Shipping Gazette, reported Friday that Kaohsiung Port last year lost its place as one of the world's 10 busiest ports.
Shieh Ming-Hui, director general of the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau, said earlier he expects cargo volume to rise by one million TEUs in 2010 because of Taiwan's shipping links with China.
Taiwan and China agreed in November on closer transport ties, including direct cross-strait shipping links.
The bureau is also developing the Kaohsiung Port Container Center project. After completion in 2013, the additional four large container berths will be able to accommodate container ships with a capacity of up to 12,000 TEUs, and will add 2 million TEUs of cargo volume annually.