Keelung (Taipei City, Taiwan China)

Keelung (officially Keelung City) is a major seaport and large city located in Taiwan's northeastern part. The city borders New Taipei - forming together the Taipei–Keelung Metro. City's nickname is "Rainy Port" due to its maritime role and frequent rains. Keelung is Taiwan's second-largest seaport - after Kaohsiung. Other cruise port cities in Taiwan include Kaohsiung, Anping, Magong, Taichung, Hualien.

A major tourist attraction is Bisha Fishing Port. Port Keelung is in the harbour - located right in the city. The port serves mainly the cargo and passenger shipping traffic/ferries to China's Xiamen and Taiwan's Matsu Islands (Lienchiang County, 36 islands total, the 5 largest are Nangan, Dongju, Xiju, Beigan, Dongyin). Taima Ferries (a 2-ship company) currently operates daily overnight Taiwan-Matsu crossings. A catamaran/fast ferry service to Fuzhou (mainland China) is operated from Port Taipei.

In 2003, the GHK-owned Star Cruises pioneered mini-cruises in Taiwan with two ships (SuperStar Libra and SuperStar Gemini) homeported in Keelung for short voyages to Japan (Okinawa) and China (Hong Kong).

Keelung City covers a total area of approx 133 km2 (51 mi2) and has population over 370,000. The city's northern part faces the ocean and is marked by the large deepwater harbor port. The annual Ghost Festival is one of the oldest in Taiwan. It dates back to 1851 following bitter clashes between rival clans. Coal mining peaked in 1968 and the city quickly developed. here is Taiwan's only fully oil-fired power plant (Hsieh-ho Power Plant). Its installed capacity is 2000 MW.

Port Keelung

Keelung Port (aka Keelung Harbor/locode TWKEL) is in the city's vicinity. All facilities are operated by the state-owned company "Taiwan International Ports Corporation".

The seaport was opened in 1886, and by the 20th century, it became Taiwan's largest. The port's business growth also brought prosperity to the city itself, making it Tawain's 4th largest (after Taipei, Tainan, Kaohsiung). Following Japan's defeat in WW2 (1939-1945), the Japanese army left Taiwan through Keelung. Being the largest port, the Chinese entered Taiwan through Keelung and took over the territory from Japan.

In the 1960s-70s, the port became one of the world's busiest ports. By 1984, its harbor became the world's 7th largest containership port.

The harbor waterway is narrow (width ~400 m / 13000 ft) and has length ~2 km (1,2 mi). It extends from the inner harbor (port's southwestern part) to the northwest (port's entrance). The seaport is accessible from Keelung Station (Taiwan Railway Administration's northern terminus/opened in 1891).

In 2016, Taiwan was ranked Asia's 3rd-largest cruise travel market - following China and Singapore. In 2017, Taiwan’s cruise industry value reached about USD 162 million. In 2016, Taiwan International Ports Corporation reported a total of 493 ship calls handled and about 750,000 cruise passengers served. Season 2017's projections were for over 1 million passengers.

In 2017, to promote Taiwan's cruise tourism industry, Port Keelung attracted Costa Cruises (via Costa Asia) for two roundtrip itineraries. They were operated by the ships Costa neoRomantica (departing April 12) and Costa Fortuna (departing June 16). Costa Fortuna's cruise had scheduled live performances onboard by the popular Taiwanese pop singer A-Lin (on June 19 and 23).

In 2017, the port reported a record year with 32% increase in cruise passengers - up to 1,14 million (from ~860,000 in 2016). This ranked Taiwan Asia's 2nd in terms of cruise ship tourism. In 2017, Star Cruises homeported here SuperStar Aquarius. The roundtrip cruise itinerary visited ports in Japan - Naha, Ishigaki Island and Miyakojima Island.

"Taipei Port Container" project at Port Keelung included the construction of 7 berths (total length 2366 m / 7762 ft) plus development of land area 1,1 km2 (0,4 mi2). The project's total investment was USD 600 million with annual capacity ~4 million TEU-containers. All construction works were completed in 2014. The first 4 berths were operational by the end of 2009. The bid for the extension project (containership berths 18 and 19)  was won by CCTC (China Container Terminal Corporation) in 2006. Along with berths W18 and W19, CCTC also received a 38-year concession on berths W19, W20 and W21 starting from April 21, 2009.

Port Keelung's terminal for general and bulk cargo ("Taipei Port 2") was built in 2009-2015. In 2018, the cruise port handled 1,06 million passengers (13,47% increase over 2017). The increase was attributed to increased international ship calls. In 2018, the number of foreign cruisers was ~940,000 (compared to ~830,000 in 2017), including ~60,000 from Philippines (23% increase).

According to statistics provided by Taiwan International Port Corporation (state-owned seaport management company), the number of cruise tourists visiting Keelung rose from ~560,000 (in 2015) to ~660,000 (in 2016), ~820,000 (2017), ~940,000 (2018) and ~950,000 (2019). In 2019, Port Keelung's cruising business contributed ~NT$ 5 billion (USD 160,9 million) to the city's economy. During its homeporting season 2019, the 2017-inaugurated ship Majestic Princess alone served 217,236 passengers.

Keelung cruise terminal