First company sets up in free-trade zone

Tonglit Logistics Co (東立物流) became the first business to station itself in a free-trade zone at Taipei Harbor, which received approval from the Executive Yuan in the middle of last month to begin operations.

Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Tonglit Logistics chairman Hung Cheng-tung (洪辰冬) jointly unveiled a company plaque in a ceremony at the free-trade zone.

Hsieh expressed the hope that more companies would follow suit, saying that Taipei Harbor has great potential.

Taipei Harbor received approval in May to plan a 79 hectare free-trade zone. The harbor's free-trade zone operations will mainly center around the logistics business.

The Executive Yuan approved the project on Sept. 14.

It is estimated that the harbor will handle a volume of about 8,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers per year and that annual production value will be NT$650 million (US$19.57 million).

The project is expected to create around 400 jobs.