Cross-Straits Direct Shipping SuccessfulDirect shipping across the Taiwan straits, which is being carried out on a trial basis, has been successful over the past three years, port officials said May 9.A ship started direct cargo linking from the port of Fujian's Xiamen to Kaohsiung in Taiwan on April 19, 1997 after a hiatus offorty-eight years. By the end of March this year, ships had directly sailed between Fujian and Taiwan 4,504 times, transporting 812,400 TEUs, according to local official statistics. There are nine vessels including five from the mainland and four from Taiwan engaged in the direct shipping services. Profits of all these companies has been growing steadily. Most of them have changed their small vessels into large ones to meet the growing demand of transportation. But in the beginning, many feared that these companies might suffer economic losses. People across the straits have appealed to the Taiwan authority to open more direct shipping routes across the straits. At present, only one port in Taiwan, Kaohsiung, is allowed to have direct shipping routes with the ports of Fuzhou and Xiamen in Fujian Province in east China. Across the straits, large quantity of goods are still transported via a third port such as Hong Kong, Macao or Singapore, making shipping companies pay hundreds of millions of dollars of unnecessary charges each year. |
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