The Port of Kaohsiung was rated as one of the world’s top 10 container ports last year, despite a decrease in the number of containers it handled, Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) said yesterday.
The rating was conducted by Det Norske Veritas (DNV), an international accredited registrar and classification society based in Hovik, Norway.
The Port of Kaohsiung was ranked ninth by the Norwegian agency.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan International Ports Corp
The nation’s largest international seaport last year handled 8.886 million twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs), down 3.17 percent from 2024, ranking 20th in terms of the container volume handled.
The port operator attributed the decline in container throughput at the port to disruptions in the global supply chain caused by US tariffs.
DNV ranked international seaports around the world based on five key indicators: productivity, sustainability, connectivity and customer value, overall impact and enablers.
Combined container throughput at TIPC’s ports in Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taichung, Tainan, Hualien and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County fell to 13.51 million TEUs last year from 13.92 million TEUs in 2024.
Despite the decrease, the company reported record-high revenue of NT$23.53 billion (US$743.3 million) last year, a 3.2 percent increase from 2024, TIPC chairman Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said.
The year-end bonuses that TIPC employees would receive is expected to be the equivalent of 4.4 months of their salaries, pending a final decision by the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the company said.
TIPC also reported a significant rise in the number of cruise ships and cruise ship travelers arriving in the nation last year.
It said that 567 cruise ships made port calls, bringing in 1.15 million travelers, surpassing 1.05 million travelers in 2019.
Forty-one percent of the travelers last year were foreigners, up from 35 percent in 2024, company data showed.
The international travelers were primarily from Japan (27.16 percent), the US (17.37 percent), Hong Kong (10.76 percent), South Korea (9.28 percent) and Germany (6.21 percent), the data showed.
About 60,000 foreign travelers arrived through the “fly-cruise” model, where they fly to a port city to embark on a cruise, the data showed.
Most of the travelers who arrived through the fly-cruise model were from the US, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Canada, the data showed.
Cruise ships making port calls last year were more diverse compared with those arriving before the COVID-19 pandemic, TIPC said.
Before the pandemic, 90 percent of the cruise ships docking at the Port of Keelung were “contemporary” cruise ships, while “premium,” “luxury” and “expedition” cruise ships accounted for only 2.7 percent, 5.7 percent and 1 percent respectively, it said.
However, contemporary cruise ships making port calls fell to 78.08 percent last year, while premium, luxury and expedition cruise ships rose to 7.76 percent, 12.79 percent and 1.37 percent respectively, it said.
The company has established a cruise ship marketing division in light of the increases, while its branch office in Keelung is to launch a cruise ship business development department on July 1, Chou said.
“Aside from consolidating the number of cruise ship arrivals at the Port of Keelung from Japan and South Korea, we want to expand the numbers arriving at the Port of Kaohsiung from the Philippines and Vietnam this year,” he said. “We would also work closely with the Tourism Administration, and the Maritime and Port Bureau to boost domestic island-hopping tours.”
Separately, AirlineRatings.com yesterday released its list of the world’s safest flight carriers, with EVA Airways and Starlux Airlines included.
EVA Air, ranked eighth overall, made the list for the 13th consecutive year and was the only Taiwanese airline in the global top 10 for safety, while Starlux was 11th overall.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS