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Ferry Passengers across Taiwan Strait to Exceed 400,000 in 2014

2014/07/10 | By Steve Chuang

With ferry passage being increasingly popular between Taiwan and China as an economical, convenient alternative to airplanes, the number of cross-strait ferry passengers is estimated to exceed 400,000 this year, according to Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).

MOTC says that cross-strait passenger liners on all routes, including the Mini-Three-Links route, carried some 87,000 passengers in 2010, and then steadily rose to over 100,000 in 2011, 175,800 in 2012 and 322,500 in 2013.

One factor driving cross-strait ferry passenger traffic, MOTC officials emphasized, is lower cost, given that ticket prices of ordinary ferry passage can be NT$3,000-4,000 cheaper than those of airplanes. Besides, the officials added, current direct cross-strait flights simply can not meet demand.

Presently, there are three operators engaged in cross-strait ferry transport on different routes, two from China and the other from Taiwan. (SC)