Sailboat enthusiasts have called on the government to establish a customs, immigration, quarantine and security system for Pingtung County’s Dapeng Bay (大鵬灣), saying that the absence of these facilities are inconvenient to boaters.
Customs, immigration and other related tasks at the nation’s international harbors fall under the joint jurisdiction of various agencies, including the National Immigration Service Agency, the Customs Administration and the Coast Guard Administration.
While the Maritime and Port Bureau has listed Dapeng Bay as an international sailboat harbor in the hopes of promoting sport sailing and tourism, border entry services remain unavailable there, Chinese Taipei Sailing Association president Yang Jui-chi (楊瑞吉) said on Sunday.
The association is the nation’s internationally recognized organization for recreational and professional sport sailing.
Yang said he was a participant in a month-long voyage across the Kuroshio Current last year, for which he bought a second-hand keelboat from Japan.
When he returned to Dapeng Bay, officials were unable to authorize his re-entry and he had to sail to the harbor at Houbihu (後壁湖) on the Hengchun Peninsula, Yang said.
Dapeng Bay is being incorporated into the bureau’s improved digital customs and immigrations services system that is scheduled to become operational some time this year, Maritime and Port Bureau Director-General David Hsieh (謝謂君) said.
The bureau would like to add fully authorized staff at the bay to handle entries, since the bay is undergoing expansions that would increase its berth capacity from 30 to 40 by the end of the year, he added.
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