Maersk to cut Taiwan cargo berths

The world's top container shipper, A.P. Moeller-Maersk, will cut its cargo volume to and from Taiwan by 15 percent from next year as it focuses instead on its China operations, a newspaper said on Thursday.
The cut in volume would be equal to around 220,000 20-foot-equivalent-unit containers per year, and impact the island's main port Kaohsiung, the Chinese-language Commercial Times cited unnamed sources at a local subsidiary as saying. The paper said Maersk was boosting its investment in China in ports such as Xiamen. Officials for Maersk in Taiwan declined to comment on the report.
Between 1999 and 2004, Kaohsiung's world ranking in terms of throughput slipped from the No 3 to the No 6 spot, overtaken by ports in Shanghai and Shenzhen.