Legislator suggests Yang Ming merger with Taiwan-owned port company

A merger of Yang Ming, which is 33 percent owned by the government, with a private company such as Evergreen Line, would be difficult to achieve, contends Chen Ou-po, a member of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party.    Members of the Transportation Committee in Taiwan’s legislature discussed the merits of having Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. merge with the state-owned Taiwan International Port Corp. (TIPC) earlier this week, according to an article posted in the Taipei Times.
   The committee was scheduled to review a port construction budget during a meeting on Monday, but “lawmakers focused on possible measures to salvage debt-ridden state-run Yang Ming,” the newspaper said.
   Yang Ming has had cumulative losses of 33.8 billion New Taiwan Dollars (U.S. $1.06 billion) since 2009, and 13 billion NTD in the first nine months of 2016 alone. Taiwan’s largest container carrier, Evergreen Line, has also lost money this year, with a loss of 7.46 billion NTD in the first nine months of 2016, according to figures posted by the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
   Last month, press reports said Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced that it would provide 60 billion NTD for low cost loans to shipping companies such as Yang Ming and Evergreen that have had losses for more than four quarters.
   However, Chen Ou-po, a member of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said he opposed the loans. He also said that since the government has a 33 percent stake in Yang Ming, it may be difficult to merge with Evergreen, which is a privately held firm. He proposed that Yang Ming merge with another shipping company or the TIPC, the Taipei Times reported.
   TIPC administers seven international ports in Taiwan – the ports of Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hualien, Taipei, Suao and Anping – as well as domestic, ferry and industry specific ports.
   The paper quoted another legislator, Cheng Yu-peng, as urging Taiwan’s government to seek compensation from South Korea for shipping firms, which incurred financial losses after Hanjin Shipping filed for bankruptcy.
   Cheng said 50,000 containers carrying Taiwanese products are either stranded at sea or have been seized by port authorities around the world, according to the Taipei Times.