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10 Firms Sign Agreements to Invest US$257 Million in Taiwan's Major Ports

2014/10/31 | By Steve Chuang

At the 2014 Investment Solicitation Convention organized by Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications recently, the Taiwan International Port Corp. (TIPC), a government-linked operator of commercial ports, signed investment agreements with 10 domestic and foreign firms, to bring in investments exceeding NT$7.7 billion (US$256.67 million) for Taiwan's major ports.

Those investors include Hitachi Fortune Transformer, Inc., a joint venture between Japan's Hitachi Ltd. and Taiwan's Fortune Electric Co., Ltd.; Korea-based Hanjin Shipping, a shipping company; and Taiwan's Sunspring Metal Corp., world's biggest faucet maker by shipment, Cheng Loong Corp., Taiwan's top-3 papermaker by size, and China Steel Machinery Corp., a machinery maker affiliated with China Steel Corp., a major  steelmaker on the island, among others.

TIPC says that the planned investments, covering logistics, manufacturing, warehousing, imports and exports of equipment, and container transport, will be continually carried out starting this year at Taichung Port, Taipei Port, Kaohsiung Port and Keelung Port, to create 4,000 jobs and total turnover of NT$12 billion (US$400 million).

TIPC says the investors are mainly driven by the benefits of free-trade zones set up in the said ports. To coordinate with Taiwanese government's free-trade zone development policies, TIPC stressed that it will step up improving infrastructure in these ports, to provide domestic and foreign enterprises better investment environment and enhance Taiwan's global presence.

Among the investment agreements signed, Sunspring Metal's totals  NT$2.22 billion (US$74 million) as the biggest, with the firm noting the investment to  include the development of a 9.11-hectare manufacturing base in Taichung Port, as well as construction of an automated factory, pier and warehouse, all of which enable the firm to ship  products to North America, Europe and Asia at lower costs and higher efficiency to sharpen  competitiveness globally.

Looking at Kaohsiung Port's geographic advantages and future development with optimism, Hanjin Shipping, a member of the CKYHE Alliance, says it will invest some NT$400 million (US$13.33 million) to lease Piers 76, 77 and 78, upgrade port facilities to set up a shipping hub there to boost business growth. (SC)