Formal Operations Launched at Taipei Free Trade Zone

        The application by the Port of Taipei for a free trade zone operating license was approved on Sept. 14. The first company to enter the zone is the Tonglit Logistics Co., which begins operating there in October.

　　The application was approved following an on-site inspection of the Port of Taipei on Sept. 8 by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications together with the Council for Economic Planning and Development and the Keelung Customs Office. The Port of Taipei received approval from the Executive Yuan on May 25 this year to carry out preparations for establishment of the free trade zone on a 79-hectare plot of land (including a bulk cargo terminal and petroleum product terminal), with planning focused on logistics-related operations. When the 110-hectare container terminal that is now under development there is completed, an event projected for March 2008, an application will be submitted for the container terminal too to become a free trade zone. In the future, the Port of Taipei will make use of its incentives as a free trade zone together with the advantages of the nearby Taoyuan Air Cargo Park to build on a foundation of international automotive parts logistics, combined with the surrounding comprehensive sea and air transportation networks plus the peripheral industries of Taipei and Taoyuan, and develop itself into a northern Taiwan logistics and manufacturing base. In this way, it will build the Taipei Free Trade Zone into a development center with global logistics functions.

　　The Taipei Free Trade Zone is expected initially to handle an annual container volume of 8,000 TEU and 470,000 tons of bulk cargo. Overall, it is projected to boost production value by NT$650 million and create approximately 400 job opportunities.

　　In view of the Taipei Free Trade Zone’s potential for development, inquiries about how to set up operations within the zone are flowing in from a large number of companies. First in line is Tonglit Logistics, which ibegins operating within the zone in early October. The Keelung Harbor Bureau reports that it will set up a Free Trade Zone Service Center to provide companies within the zone with a high-quality one-stop service window, and that a formal unit will be established to handle all matters related to the free trade zone as well as to recruit domestic and overseas logistics operators to move in. The goal is to build the Taipei Free Trade Zone into an integrated global logistics center for international distribution and sea-air joint shipping operations.

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