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By Matt Gibson
Photography by Kaid Hucaluk
Kaohsiung is the second largest city in Taiwan with a population of 1.5 million.
Kaohsiung Harbor is Taiwan’s largest port and a pillar of the national economy.
Kaohsiung Harbor processes two-thirds of Taiwan’s total import and export volume.
Kaohsiung was the world’s busiest container port in 1999, but has since fallen to sixth, partly due to a 50-year ban on direct shipping with China.
Shipping container volumes are measured in TEU’s, (twenty foot equivalent units) which are 6.1m long x 2.44m wide x 2.59m high and can weigh up to 24 metric tons. In 2006, Kaohsiung Harbor moved 9.7 million TEU’s.
One study has suggested that the port’s activity may continue to diminish. Kaohsiung Harbor’s throughput increased only 3.2% last year, compared with 10% in 2004.
Kaohsiung Harbor is actually managed by the Federal Port Authority, not the Kaohsiung City Government.
Kaohsiung City Association of Shipping Agents is currently protesting against the city’s plans to build an NT$4 billion music center at Warf No. 10.
So far this year Kaohsiung Harbor has seen two ship fires and one vehicle fire causing an estimated NT$1,800,00 in damage.
Most common emergencies that the Kaohsiung Harbor Fire Brigade were summoned for so far this year were car accidents (avg. 4.5 per month) and public drunkenness (avg. 3.5 times per month).
Kaohsiung Harbor has over 1,500 registered fishing boats and 118 piers.
Kaohsiung Harbor covers 2,683 hectares and has 2 access channels to the sea that are 11 and 16 meters deep. It takes up 26.6 kilometers of coastline and can accommodate up to 155 ships at one time.
Kaohsiung Harbor links to 372 shipping routes leading to 367 ports in 102 countries on five continents.
APL Kaohsiung holds the Port’s record for loading and discharging containers. They loaded and discharged an average of 164 containers per hour over 21 hours—almost double the usual speed.
The port of Kaohsiung was the 38th port to join the US post-9/11 security organization, the Container Security Initiative. A CSI team of 10 agents from the United States Homeland Security Department is posted at the Kaohsiung port to investigate any suspicious containers bound for the USA.
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