Taiwan’ marine cargo volume in October hit a record high in four years
Taiwan’ marine cargo volume in October hit a record high in four years, while the number of air passengers in the month also reached the highest level in five years, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said Saturday. According to statistics compiled by the ministry, the cargo handled by Taiwan’s harbors in October totaled 1.15 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to a high in four years, up 11.9 percent from a year earlier. TEUs are the measurement of capacity of a container vessel. In the first 10 months of this year, Taiwan’s marine cargo volume totaled 11.13 million TEUs. Kaohsiung Harbor ranked the largest cargo handler in Taiwan in October, with a throughput of 830,000 TEUs, which grew 13 percent from a year ago after the inauguration of a new container terminal in the harbor in the beginning of this year. In the January-October period, Kaohsiung Harbor’s throughput reached 7.99 million TEUs, up 5.8 percent year-on-year and the ministry said the throughput of the harbor is expected to exceed 9.5 million TEUs for 2011. Keelung Harbor was the second largest, handling 150,000 TEUs of cargo in October which gained 4.6 percent from a year earlier, followed by Taichung Harbor with 120,000 TEUS which fell 1.8 percent from a year earlier. Marine cargo volume across the Taiwan Strait in October totaled 160,000 TEUs, accounting for 14.1 percent of the total international cargo in the month, and rose 5.3 percent from a year earlier. In the first 10 months of this year, cross-strait marine cargo volume rose 3.7 percent from a year ago to 1.62 million TEUs.
Source: Central News Agency
