The Legislative Yuan passed revisions to the Commercial Port Act Dec. 6 putting the operation and management of Taiwan’s international seaports in the hands of a new state-run company.
Chi Wen-jong, director of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications’ Department of Aviation and Navigation, said the nation’s four international ports—at Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien—will be merged under a single state-run enterprise, the Taiwan Port Co., which is expected to be established March 1, 2012.
The enterprise will have four branch companies, one for each of the ports, with offices under them for the ports of Anping, Taipei and Su-ao, Chi said.
Domestic commercial ports in the counties of Kinmen and Lienchiang will be operated and managed by the respective county governments.
The MOTC explained that the new arrangement will allow for better coordination of operations and prevent competition among the ports. It will also facilitate efforts to attract more foreign investment and raise the international competitiveness of the ports, especially Kaohsiung’s, the ministry said.
Hsiao Ding-hsun, director-general of the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau, said that after the Taiwan Port Co. is established, it will begin actively investing overseas, with its most important mission being investment in second-line ports in mainland China and Southeast Asia.
Legislator Tsao Erh-chung of the ruling Kuomintang, who proposed the amendments, said in an interview that the purpose of the legislation is to raise the efficiency and competitiveness of Taiwan’s international seaports. He added that the idea of establishing a state-run company was modeled on the example of Taoyuan International Airport Corp. (SB)