Yang Ming Marine Transport has decided to lease a 36-hectare plot of land in Kaohsiung Harbour to build a mega US$133 million logistics centre, in anticipation of business opportunities associated with the possibility of becoming a delivery port of the London Metal Exchange.

A ranking official of Yang Ming confirmed that the company would have Kao Ming Container Terminal Corp, its wholly-owned subsidiary, sign a 10-year lease contract for the plot of land with Kaohsiung Harbour Bureau before carrying out the project, in line with the growth of its freight volume and the progress of its project to build two new docks in the harbour, reported Taiwan Economic Times.

The projected facility will occupy a plot of land five times the base for its existing two logistics warehouses at the harbour, with annual capacity of one million metric tons. It will become the largest port logistics centre on the island.

The first two docks of the harbour's sixth container terminal, built by Kao Ming, are undergoing trial operation and are scheduled for formal inauguration in early 2011. The two docks boast annual capacity of 1.4-1.5 million TEUs and will boost the number of Yang Ming's docks in Kaohsiung to four, trailing only Evergreen Marine.

The Yang Ming official noted that Yang Ming has conceived the logistics centre project, in anticipation of surge in Kaohsiung Harbour's freight volume, resulting from expanded transhipment business following the implementation of cross-Taiwan Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in 2011 and possibility for Kaohsiung to become a delivery port of LME, the latter of which will lead to transfer of freight business from Singapore and Pusan. He stressed that Kaohsiung is the best transhipment port for non-ferrous metals of China.