Transportation companies plying the three sea transportation routes from Taiwan to the Middle East have reached an agreement to add a war risk surcharge on transport beginning this Monday.
The planned surcharge for a 20 foot container will be between US$350 and US$600, while that figure will jump to between US$700 to US$1,200 for a 40 foot container.
Insurers worldwide are trying to absorb losses that may top US$70 billion from the attacks involving four hijacked airliners that struck at the US on Sept. 11 and adjust for increased risks as the US prepares to retaliate.
Shipping companies are among the industries affected, especially those serving the Middle East, a region that might become the center of US action against terrorism.
The extent of the fees will be decided soon and clients will be informed of its implementation.
Also affected will be routes from the Far East to Europe, and from the Far East to the Mediterranean Sea. Companies operating in the Middle East can enter directly into the harbors in the area, while companies operating in Europe and the Mediterranean have to pass through the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
The 100-year old Far Eastern Freight Conference on Monday informed the European consignment association that transportation fees to the Middle East would rise this coming Monday.
Member companies of the Middle East Rate Association that operate directly in the Middle East held a meeting in Hong Kong on Monday without arriving at an agreement on how to deal with the situation
However, harbor authorities in Keelung have already been informed of the intention to add war risk surcharges.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day