A Study on the Container Hinterlands of Kaohsiung Port

• Main Authors: Yu-Wei Kao, 高毓蔚
• Other Authors: Chuen-Yih Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/70802925386779557751

碩士 === 長榮大學 === 航運管理學系碩士班 === 101 === In the 1990s, Kaohsiung Port was the world's third largest container port. However, in recent years she has been ranked behind the tenth. This study makes an attempt to explore the reasons from hinterland points of view. In general, hinterlands of container ports with the broad definition can be divided into hinterlands and forelands. The former have related to import/export containers. The latter can be subdivided into proximal forelands and distal forelands. The proximal forelands have related to transshipment containers. This study makes use of statistics data of import/export containers as well as transshipment containers to define the hinterland and the proximal foreland of Kaohsiung Port respectively and also to analyze the development potential of them. The study results show that corresponding to the near-sea import/export containers, the hinterland of Kaohsiung port covers from Chiayi to Pingtung. Yunlin area is the competition hinterland of Kaohsiung port and Taichung Port. Corresponding to the ocean-going import/export containers, the hinterland of Kaohsiung port covers the whole Taiwan area. However, it will face competition from Taipei Port. Since the development of Taiwan’s industry has been structurally changed, there is a limited growth of import/export container volume. That’s, the hinterland of Kaohsiung Port has limited development potential. Corresponding to transshipment containers, the major proximal forelands of Kaohsiung Port are Southeast Asia and Mainland China. However, the Cross-strait Shipping Agreement is subject to the "One China" policy. Therefore, the transshipment containers of Kaohsiung Port from Mainland China subject to lots of limitations. That’s, Mainland China is a limited potential proximal foreland for Kaohsiung Port. As an emerging region of South-East Asia, it is still producing the largest volume of transshipment containers for Kaohsiung Port at this stage. Nevertheless, this region has become a major competitive region among carriers. Furthermore, ports in this region may have some distance from Kaohsiung Port. It may not be easy for Kaohsiung Port to obtain more transshipment containers from South-East Asia. In other words, the development potential of the proximal foreland of Kaohsiung Port is not easy to upgrade. Finally, this study has attempted to employ the port regionalization strategies proposed by Rodrigue & Notteboom (2010) to develop strong functional links with feeder ports to increase volume of transshipment containers from forelands of Kaohsiung Port. However, Kaohsiung Port is facing some barriers, including politics aspect (such as "one-China" policy), business model aspect (such as most of container terminals leased by carriers) and geographic aspect (such as too far from feeder ports). Thus, implementing port regionalization strategies may not have effectively outcomes. In other words, it is not easy for Kaohsiung Port to substantially increase container handling volume from her hinterlands as well as forelands. She should find some other approaches to have more value added services, instead.