No Fat Chicks... Yet!

Ahoy There!
Why no really big coal vessels call on Taiwan… yet! The requirements for coal in Taiwan are substantial and 100% imported. We got to wondering why they don’t try to benefit from the economies of scale and fix the big ladies like Capes and even the blasted VLOC’s to import the fuel. It is all about the port limitations. The ports are simply not deep enough to permit entry, and even when the entrance channel draft is sufficient, we are further limited by narrow turning basins, and finally the alongside depth squashes any remaining hope. When you moor two vessels side by side the water is displaced lowering the existing water depth accordingly. Kmaxes are finding things tight, so I doubt we will see much if any true post pannies willing to pilot the squeeze. The fat chicks can forget it unless substantial dredging and rework is accomplished. Throw in a few trade issues with China and you might just see a bunch of dredgers working 24/7.
Kaohsiung Port handled nearly 9.47 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2005, making it the sixth-largest container port in the world. This port features 118 operating berths, totaling 26.6 km in length, which can accommodate up to 153 ships (including mooring buoys) at any one time. It has five container terminals, 26 container wharves, 67 gantry cranes, two grain silos, and 293.5 hectares of container yards. The Port of Kaohsiung has 11 dry bulk berths with a total length of 2350 meters, all of which have alongside depth of 10.5 meters, and more than 3.4 thousand square meters of warehouse space. Two of these wharves (at 184 and 306 meters long) handle dangerous cargo and bulk. Eight of the 11 wharves are 200 meters long, and one is 260 meters long.
Keelung Port has 57 berths. Its two container terminals, one each on its eastern and western banks, have 15 container berths equipped with 29 gantry cranes capable of handling 13-18 rows of containers at a time. To meet the requirements of global shipping, two dredging programs were completed in January 2001, increasing the depth of the main channel to 15.5 m and enlarging the diameter of its turning basin to 650 m. Keelung Port can now accommodate vessels of 60,000 DWT. To promote operational efficiency and improve quality of service, stevedoring in Keelung Port was opened to private companies in January 1999. Port of Keelung has three berths for bulk cargoes, two of which are 165 meters long and one at 180 meters long. They have alongside depths of 10.5 and 11 meters
Taichung Port is a man-made port covering a total area of about 3,760 hectares. Located on the west coast of central Taiwan, the harbor was designed to help cope with the fast growing needs of national economic development, and to relieve some of the shipping traffic from the heavily used Keelung and Kaohsiung ports. Taichung Port's main channel is 16 m deep and its turning basin is 14 m deep at low tide. The port has 46 deep-water wharves and eight container piers. The entrance channel to the outer harbor is 350 meters long and 16 meters deep, while the inner channel is 400 meters long and 16 meters deep. The Port of Taichung contains two turning basins, both with a depth of 15 meters. The North Turning Basin is one thousand meters in diameter, and the South Turning Basin is 1100 meters diameter. The Industrial Basin is 500 meters wide with depths from 16 to 18 meters. In the South Wharf area of the Port of Taichung are the Coal Wharf and Waste Steel Wharf. The Coal Wharf has four berths of a total 1360 meters with alongside depth of 18 meters. The Waste Steel Wharf has one berth of 250 meters in length with alongside depth of 12 meters.
Hualien Port is an artificial harbor formed by eastern and western breakwaters. It faces the Pacific Ocean to the east and is flanked by the island's Central Mountains to the west. The access channel to Hualien Port is 240 meters wide and from 16.4 to 19.6 meters deep. The outer port turning basin has a diameter of 700 meters and a depth from 14 to 15 meters. The inner port navigation channel is 1120 meters long, and the inner port turning basin has a diameter of 200 meters and depth of 10.5 meters. Four wharves handle cement, and one wharf handles coal.
Taipei Port is being developed to serve as an auxiliary harbor relieving some of the heavy traffic using Keelung Port. The first of a three-phase construction has been completed, and the port is already equipped with two berths 9 m deep totaling 340 m in length, and a 70-hectare stacking yard. Ski fondly remembers visiting Taipei a few decades ago as a younger SINGLE man, and scored it a 10.
Suao Port also serves as an auxiliary harbor for Keelung Port. Located in Yilan County on Taiwan's northeast coast, the harbor covers about 2.9 sq. km and currently has 13 operating berths totaling 2,610 m in length. Measuring between 7.5 m and 15 m deep, these are capable of accommodating Post-Panamax vessels. Important rail connectivity could be noteworthy.

Anping Port serves as an auxiliary harbor to Kaohsiung Port. At present, it has a total of 2,567 m of wharves with 16 operating berths, and includes an 11.5 m deep channel that can accommodate ships of up to 20,000 DWT.

Good Fortunes
Ski