The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday said that it has approved a NT$16.5 billion (US$550,220) bailout package for the container shipping industry following two review meetings on Monday.
The announcement came after the ministry finished the distribution of bailout funds to the civil aviation industry in April, whose businesses were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As an island nation, Taiwan depends heavily on the development of the container shipping and civil aviation industries for economic development. We are determined to take action to help the shipping industry cope with the impact brought by the pandemic,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said.
“Through the bailout package, we hope that container shipping carriers can quickly secure the funds they need to sustain their operations and weather the crisis,” Lin added.
Expecting that the container shipping industry’s plight would worsen, Lin had in March asked the Port and Maritime Bureau to offer container ship operators a one-year subsidy of NT$243 million to cover the interest incurred on their bank loans, using the Commercial Port Development Fund as collateral, the ministry said.
To secure more relief funds, Lin met with the management of Evergreen Marine Corp and Yang Ming Maritime Transport Corp, to understand the challenges facing the industry, the ministry said.
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