In the News

Cabinet set to approve Kaohsiung free trade port

The Port of Kaohsiung has been chosen for development as Taiwan's first free trade harbor. (CNA)

• Publication Date：09/24/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  June Tsai

The ROC Executive Yuan is expected to approve a long-anticipated plan making the Port of Kaohsiung Taiwan’s first free trade harbor, local reports said Sept. 24.

The plan falls under an umbrella proposal to refurbish the ports of Anping in Tainan City, Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taipei, Taichung and Su-ao in Hualien County. The government has earmarked NT$65.96 billion (US$2.26 billion) for the five-year plan, with Kaohsiung to receive the lion’s share of NT$42.87 billion, according to an official with the Council of Economic Planning and Development.

The CEPD said the Kaohsiung free trade port budget will go toward second stage construction on the Intercontinental Container Terminal, refurbishment of three piers and the building of elevated roads.

The harbor plan has been incorporated within the South Star land development project the CEPD proposed last year. The free trade zone will occupy 64 hectares of South Star’s 100 hectares of land.

CEPD Deputy Minister Wu Ming-ji said earlier that the free trade zone will target the logistics industry and introduce more diversified business sectors, distinguishing it from existing export processing zones and science parks, which are focused on manufacturing.

To attract investment, Wu said, besides land and tax incentives, the CEPD is also mulling relaxation of restrictions on foreign labor in the free trade zone.

Upgrading of all six ports is expected to be completed in 2016, when Taiwan International Ports Corp. Ltd.'s handling capacity will reach 18 million TEU, or 20-foot equivalent units, per year, with an estimated NT$30 billion in annual revenue and up to 1.3 million passengers. (THN)