TWO Taipei dock areas will be ready for container operations by March, after which docks will be built every year until 2014 when seven will be completed at a cost of NT$20.3 billion (US$601.48 million).

This year''s volume is expected to hit 750,000-TEU, falling short of the facility''s 1.1 million TEU capacity, port operator president Herman Chen told the Taiwan Journal. The project is expected to increase Taiwan''s GDP 0.6 per cent by generating NT$39.3 billion.

This follows Evergreen''s investment in the Taipei wharf project with partners Wan Hai and Yang Ming in 2003 under a 50-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) project. This is the largest private investment of its kind. Wan Hai is to operate first from early March while Yang Ming has yet to announce its start date.

The Port of Kaohsiung, the largest container terminal in Taiwan, is to enlarge to four wharves by 2013 and will increase its capacity to three million TEU. Ministry of Transport officials said it will run at a cost of NT$42.89 billion, of which NT$24.77 billion will be state funded with NT$18.12 billion coming from private investment.

The lifting of the six-decade ban on direct shipping to and from mainland China in December positions the port for many calls from international shipping with northern Taiwan exporters able to use larger vessels of 10,000-TEU from Taipei, said a ministry official.

Mr Chen said the development will also relief clogged northern highways. "Our services will reduce traffic congestion on the nation''s highways and cut shippers'' costs."