Port Of Kaohsiung, Taiwan

The Port of Kaohsiung encompasses five container terminals. All are at your service to handle a comprehensive range of logistics services promptly and accurately. With an annual handling capacity of 10 million TEU, the Port of Kaohsiung handles shipments quickly and effectively with state-of-the-art facilities, equipment and supporting infrastructure and professional, well-trained staff.

The Port of Kaohsiung lies on the southwestern shores of the island of Taiwan about 180 kilometers south of the Port of Taichung. Taiwan's principal port and the sixth largest container port in the world, Kaohsiung City is an important industrial center as well, with the 2.2 thousand hectare Linhai Industrial Park located on the waterfront near the Port of Kaohsiung. The industrial park contains a shipyard, a petrochemical complex, a steel mill, and many other industries. In 2008, the municipality of Kaohsiung City was home to over 1.5 million people, and more than 2.7 million lived in the metropolitan area.

Kaohsiung City is also home to many manufacturing plants and an oil refinery. Manufacturers produce aluminum, cement, refined sugar, salt, brick and tile, fertilizer, and paper. The Port of Kaohsiung is an export center for agricultural products produced across southern Taiwan, and it is also an important fishing port. The city also supports a major canning industry that processes both fish and fruit.

The Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau is the port authority for the Port of Kaohsiung. In late 2008, President Ma met with city and port officials and shipping company heads to discuss the future of the Port of Kaohsiung. Several proposals resulted from the meeting that included:

• expanding internationalization and liberalization of the Port of Kaohsiung
• restricting use of the commercial wharves to maintain the port's integrity
• expansion of the container yards and improvements to connections between container terminals

In 2008, the Port of Kaohsiung handled a total of 146 million tons of cargo, including 44.4 million tons of exports and 102.3 million tons of imports. Foreign cargoes of 130.2 million tons included 100.2 million tons of exports and 30 million tons of imports. Domestic cargoes of 16.5 million tons included 14.5 million tons of exports and 2 million tons of imports.

The Port of Kaohsiung contains over one hundred berths with a total length exceeding 23.4 thousand meters that handle all types of cargo. The Port of Kaohsiung has 65 warehouses and transit sheds that can store over 929 thousand tons of cargo and seven outdoor yards that can handle more than 35 thousand tons.

In the Port of Kaohsiung, 27 berths totaling 5373 meters handle general merchandise and include over 117 thousand square meters of warehouse space and over 15 thousand square meters of outdoor yard. Of the 27 berths, 24 have alongside depth of 10.5 meters. One berth is 13 meters deep, one is 14 meters deep, and one is 6.5 meters deep. The Port of Kaohsiung's general merchandise berths range from 151 to 375 meters in length, with an average length of 222 meters. Three berths are 151 meters long, nine berths are from 196 to 205 meters long, two berths are 214 and 215 meters long, one berth is 298 meters long, and three berths are over 300 meters long.

The Port of Kaohsiung contains 25 special use berths that are a total of 5.4 thousand meters long and have almost 32 thousand square meters of warehouse space and almost 400 thousand square meters of yards. Some of these special use wharves handle oil tankers and coal carriers as well as port vessels. With alongside depths from five to 16 meters, depths average 10.5 meters, and berths range from 118 to 384 meters long, averaging 215 meters in length.

Three of the Port of Kaohsiung's 25 special use berths are 118 meters long with alongside depth of 7 meters. Two berths are 139 meters long with alongside depth of 9 meters. Five berths are between 150 and 200 meters long with alongside depths ranging from 4.5 to 11.8 meters. Seven berths are between 200 and 250 meters long, most with alongside depth of 10.5 or 11.5 meters. Five berths are between 250 and 300 meters, and alongside depths range from 6.5 to 16.5 meters (only one berth with less than 10.5 meters depth).

Twenty-three berths in the Port of Kaohsiung with a total length of 6897 meters serve containerized cargo. The container wharves also have more than 710 thousand square meters of yards. Port of Kaohsiung container berth lengths range from 120 to 440 meters, and alongside depths range from 10.5 to 15 meters.

Twelve of these Port of Kaohsiung container berths are 320 meters long with alongside depth of 14 meters. Two berths are less than 200 meters with alongside depths of 14 and 10.5 meters. Five berths are from 230 to 277 meters long with alongside depths of 10.5, 12, and 14.5 meters. One berth is 340 meters long with alongside depth of 14 meters, and two are 355 meters long with alongside depth of 15 meters. The largest berth is 440 meters long with alongside depth of 14.5 meters.

The Port of Kaohsiung has 11 dry bulk berths with a total length of 2350 meters, all of which have alongside depth of 10.5 meters, and more than 3.4 thousand square meters of warehouse space. Two of these wharves (at 184 and 306 meters long) handle dangerous cargo and bulk. Eight of the 11 wharves are 200 meters long, and one is 260 meters long.

The Port of Kaohsiung has two cement berths with silos. Each of them is 200 meters long with alongside depth of 10.5 meters. The Port of Kaohsiung also has two grain berths, each of which is 200 meters long with alongside depth of 14 meters. Four "other use" berths total 517 meters in length and have depths from 5 to 10.5 meters. Kaohsiung City has seven dedicated wharves with a total length of over one thousand meters and 12.9 thousand square meters of warehouse space.
Two passenger berths in the Port of Kaohsiung are a total of 629 meters long, and they have 2.1 thousand square meters of warehouse space. The Passenger Berths are 250 and 378 meters long with alongside depths of 9 and 4.5 meters, respectively.

The government of Taiwan promotes the Port of Kaohsiung as a major transshipment center for the Asia Pacific, a global logistics center, and a free port. With a favorable climate, the Port of Kaohsiung overtook the Port of Keelung as Taiwan's premiere port. Serving a rich agricultural region, the Port of Kaohsiung exports large volumes of rice, bananas, sugar, peanuts, pineapples, and citrus fruit.