Taiwan lawmakers wrestle with possibility of Yang Ming-Everg

Time: 2016-12-14 13:44
TAIWAN's lawmakers are weighing merger possibilities of 33 per cent state-owned Yang Ming Marine Transport with privately owned Evergreen Line.
 
A merger would be difficult to achieve, said Chen Ou-po, a member of Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
 
Last month, the Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications said it would provide TWD60 billion (US$1.89 billion) for low cost loans to shipping companies such as Yang Ming and Evergreen that suffered losses for more than four quarters.
 
But Mr Chen opposes such loans. Instead he proposed that Yang Ming merge with another shipping company or the state-owned Taiwan International Port Corp (TIPC), reported the Taipei Times.
 
Members of the legislature's Transportation Committee discussed the merits of having Yang Ming merge with the state-owned Taiwan International Port Corp (TIPC), according to the Taipei Times.
 
Yang Ming has suffered losses of TWD33.8 billion since 2009 and TWD13 billion in the first nine months of 2016. Evergreen, Taiwan's biggest box carrier, has lost TWD7.46 billion in the first nine months of 2016.
 
TIPC administers seven international ports in Taiwan - Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Taipei, Suao and Anping - as well as domestic, ferry and industry specific ports.
 
Lawmaker Cheng Yu-peng urged Taiwan to seek compensation from South Korea for shipping firms, which incurred financial losses after Hanjin Shipping filed for bankruptcy.
 
Mr Cheng said 50,000 containers carrying Taiwanese products were either stranded at sea or had been seized by port authorities around the world.
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