Port of Taichung, Taiwan International Ports Corporation, Ltd.

The Port of Taichung, TIPC regularly recruits businesses to invest and establish facilities in the port as part of ongoing efforts to maximize the effective utilization of port lands. The port recently penned lease agreements with the Taiwan Fertilizer Company and the Formosa Oilseed Processing Company, respectively. The former agreement leases West Wharf No. 10 and adjacent land to TFC, while the latter permits the lease and commercial development by FOPC of 3.3ha of land in the port’s Special Zone for Port Industry Development (1).

Taiwan Fertilizer, the nation’s largest manufacturer of fertilizers and related chemical products, currently holds long-term leases on West Wharf Nos. 8 & 9 and adjacent land. Facilities here comprise Taiwan’s largest-volume producer of fertilizer, with major products including ammonium sulfate, superphosphate, and compound and organic fertilizers. Supporting the government’s Southbound Policy, TFC on October 16^th of this year expanded its original lease to include 4.56ha of new land behind West Wharf No. 10, increasing overall investments in the port to NT$2.367 billion and adding a new plant capable of producing 162,500 tons of ammonium sulfate fertilizer annually. This new capacity will help meet rising domestic needs and support the expansion of overseas markets.

Formosa Oilseed Processing is a top-4 national soybean oil brand, with products covering edible oils including soybean, sunflower, rapeseed, and palm. The favorable conditions for business in Taichung Port’s northern wharf district and Food Products Zone and prospects for vertical integration with upstream and downstream suppliers in the area led the company to lease 3.3ha of port land nearby. FOPC currently plans to invest NT$700 million to build a new refining plant and support facilities, where it will refine imported soybeans and palm oil into packaged products for domestic and overseas sale. The company expects to start operations at the site in early 2020, generating 90 new job opportunities and increasing by 250,000 tons the port’s annual handled cargo volume.

Working to align itself with long-term government planning efforts and to continue expanding private-sector investment opportunities, the Port of Taichung is continuing to organize public bids for long-term port land usage rights. Port administrators are hoping to build integrated supply-chain synergies on the foundations of already-developed industry-specific zones such as food, ferrous metals, petrochemicals, and energy, which will spur cluster effects in upstream and downstream industries and should create a positive feedback loop that further benefits these industries as well as the prosperity of the Port of Taichung and its surrounding communities.