INTERVIEW-China shipping firms plan to invest in Taiwan port

Published: 11 May 2009 20:18:38 PST

KAOHSIUNG, May 12 - Three major Chinese shipping companies plan to invest in the biggest Taiwanese port in Kaohsiung, a top port official said on Tuesday, as China and Taiwan forge closer trade ties.

China COSCO, China Shipping Container Lines Co Ltd and China Merchants Group plan to invest in Kaohsiung port, the world's eighth largest in 2008.

"Cosco's plans are currently in the workings right now. They will have a more specific investment plan by the end of next year," Shieh Ming-hui, director-general of the Kaohsiung Harbor Bureau, told Reuters in an interview.

Cosco is the world's largest dry bulk shipper.

Kaohsiung port, once the world's third busiest port in the late 1990s, saw its ranking slip away with China's economic rise as a lack of direct transportation links with the mainland undermined its position.