TAIPEI: Maersk Line plans to cut the number of berths it leases at Taiwan's Kaohsiung Harbour because of declining business, a harbour official said yesterday.

"Maersk Line rents three container berths at Kaohsiung Harbour. The lease for the No 75 berth will expire in October, but Maersk has asked to terminate it ahead of the expiry date," a harbour official who requested anonymity said.

The Liberty Times Newspaper said Maersk was also considering ending its leases on two other berths at Kaohsiung Harbour, that are set to expire in May 2010.

The company's Taiwan agent, Maersk Taiwan Ltd, confirmed the decision to terminate the lease for the No 75 berth.

"It is all because of slump in business," a staff member who withheld her name said.

Maersk is part of the A P Moller group, the world's largest container line with 550 ships.

Currently six foreign container shipping companies have leased 11 berths at Kaohsiung Harbour.

Kaohsiung Harbour, in southern Taiwan, was the world's number three container port during the 1980s, but its ranking has been slipping rapidly in recent years as other economies, especially the Chinese mainland, have expanded their ports or built new ones.

In 2008, Kaohsiung fell off the list of the world's top-10 ports, dropping to 12th in rank from 7th in 2007.

One reason for the harbour's decline was Taiwan's six-decade ban on shipping links with the mainland. Taipei dropped the ban in December, hoping to bring business back to Kaohsiung.

DPA

(HK Edition 07/08/2009 page2)