Taiwan plans to invest NT$38.16bn ($1.37bn) over the next five years to upgrade seven commercial ports. The plan, proposed by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and approved by the National Development Council, aims to increase capacity and transform them into eco-friendly and smart international ports.
The ministry intends to launch 29 projects at the ports of Kaohsiung, Keelung, Hualien, Taichung, and Taipei, as well as Tainan’s Anping and Yilan County’s Suao ports from next year to 2026.
The goal is to boost the total container throughput to approximately 18.2m teu annually and the total cargo throughput at the seven ports to 1.8bn metric tons by 2026.
Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s largest port and also the world’s sixteenth busiest container port last year, will be modified into a transhipment hub in the Asia-Pacific region. The goal is to increase the port’s container throughput from 9.62m teu last year to 11.44m teu.
The growing Taipei port is planned to become a smart logistics center for automobiles, while the Port of Taichung will be the base for green energy development. The ports at Suao, Hualien, and Anping will be developed for tourism.
In addition, Taiwan’s Maritime Port Bureau plans to invest around $350m in 33 projects to improve competitiveness and boost tourism and economic development near the ports of Budai, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu.
