Evergreen Marine Corp (Taiwan) Ltd, which currently operates two large container terminals in the Port of Kaohsiung, has extended its lease on the newer facility at Container Terminal No 5 for a further 11 years and one month.

The lease extension contract, which covers the period from December 1, 2007 to December 31, 2018, was signed by EMC's President Jack Yen and by Ming-Hui Shieh, Director-General of the Kaohsiung Harbour Bureau at a ceremony held in Kaohsiung and attended by Government officials, senior management from other shipping companies and many prominent executives representing the Southern Taiwan business community.

This container terminal occupies over 400,000m² of land and provides three berths (Piers 79, 80 and 81) with a total quay length of 815m. These berths are served by nine post-Panamax gantry cranes, 30 rail mounted gantry cranes and

six empty container stackers.It is capable of accommodating up to 25,000TEU of loaded containers and 3,700TEU of empty containers.

Constructed on a BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis following Evergreen's success in winning a competitive tender bid in May 1997, it opened for business in May 1999.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr Yen commented:

"It has been Evergreen's operational strategy and goal to offer one-stop transport services to its clients through investment in upstream and downstream businesses to cut operational costs and raise efficiency."

"Our berths at this terminal are the best equipped and most advanced in the port. Not only are they fully computerised for maximum efficiency in cargo handling operations but the terminal is also authorised for customs clearance self-management operation."

In addition to this three-berth facility at Container Terminal No 5, Evergreen also operates three berths (Piers 115, 116 and 117) at Container Terminal No 4.