Kaohsiung's throughput grew to 9.64m teu in 2011 compared to 9.18m teu in 2010, according to data from Taiwan's ministry of transportation and communications.
Despite the growth in volumes, Kaohsiung has a maximum handling capacity of 10m teu a year, pushing the port to embark on a bold reform strategy to avoid stagnation and to attract investments from international port operators.
From 1 March 2012, the four harbor bureaus of Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taichung and Hualien will form Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC) and Maritime and Port Bureau.
The corporatised TIPC will oversee the ports of Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taichung and Hualien while the consolidated port authority Maritime and Port Bureau will continue to carry out the regulatory and policy works of the respective bureaus.
Meanwhile, Taichung and Taipei ports recorded historic highs of 1.38m teu and 650,000 teu of box throughput last year. Keelung port, however, registered a 0.8% decline in throughput to 1.75m teu.
On the whole, Taiwan posted a 5.4% year-on-year rise in container throughput to a four-year high of 13.42m teu last year.
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