Despite volatile global economies, Taiwan's cargo load at international harbours in the first half of the year amounted to 6.81 million TEUs, with a rise of 2.9 percent year-on-year for a new high since 1985, according to the statistics compiled by the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC).

Kaohsiung Harbor hit 790,000 TEUs or 69.7 percent to lead its peers in June, but down 0.9 percent year-on-year, followed by 130,000 TEUs at Keelung Harbor, down 12.6 percent and mainly impacted by routing schedules of shippers, resulting in Kaohsiung and Keelung ports posting new lows in these three years, reported Taiwan Economic News.

But the cargo load at Taichung Harbor kept increasing to 120,000 TEUs in June, up 2.4 percent year-on-year to almost the level of Keelung Harbor, the main harbor in Taiwan, with Taipei Harbor reaching 90,000 TEUs with a sizable rise of 43.7 percent year-on-year.

The cargo load at harbors in Taiwan totalled 113,000 TEUs to maintain positive growth of 0.4 percent in June.

Cargo load due to cross-strait direct shipping totalled 180,000 TEUs in June in Taiwan, up 8.7 percent year-on-year to account for 15.7 percent of overall cargo load on the island, with Taiwan-China container volume in the first half of the year hitting 104,000 TEUs, up 9.3 percent year-on-year