City-Port Cooperation to Create Pleasure Yacht Marina as New Spotlight Attraction
The Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC) is dedicated to operating Taiwan’s international commercial ports in a manner that harmonizes with the needs of local residents, industries, and ecosystems. The Port of Kaohsiung, one of the Asia-Pacific Region’s largest container ports, is working to accommodate the needs of increasingly large vessels by relocating bulk cargo wharves, container terminals, and petrochemical tank yards southward. Further, the port’s Old Port District, a critical part of Kaohsiung City urban renewal efforts, is gradually being transformed into an urban transportation hub and center of city tourism and recreation. With the goal of positioning Kaohsiung Harbor as a new visitor destination and tourist attraction, the Port of Kaohsiung has announced a new cooperative project with the City Government. The project will invest an estimated NT$500 million to create Taiwan’s largest marina for pleasure yachts. The marina fits into a growing landscape of harbor-side city attractions, including the Maritime Cultural & Popular Music Center (MCPMC), Pier-2 Art Center, and the yet-to-be-completed Love River Bay Bridge. Together, these attractions are expected to create a new city landmark, enticing city residents to take greater advantage of seascape vistas and water recreation opportunities, spurring new economic activity, encouraging more private-sector investment, creating new tourism and commercial value, and instilling new vitality into Kaohsiung City’s Asia New Bay Area.
Taiwan is surrounded by the sea, and over 10 thousand pleasure yachts ply the waters off the Port of Kaohsiung each year. However, Taiwan has yet to develop world-class marina facilities, representing a promising area of future planning and development. TIPC thus plans to invest NT$500 million to create the world-class, international-scale Love River Bay Pleasure Yacht Marina, encompassing Wharves 13-15 at the Port of Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s largest international commercial port. The marina project will be authorized to develop 10 hectares of near-shore waters, with piers extending to 460m in length and water depths of -6m to -8m. The marina as currently planned will accommodate around 160 pleasure craft (15m avg. length x 5m avg. width). Additionally, the marina project will have access to an adjacent 500-car parking garage (shared with the MCPMC and Pier-2 Art Center) and land area able to accommodate the needs of several thousand visitors and tourists.
Taiwan’s yacht and pleasure craft industry is ranked number 4 in the world, with much of related national production concentrated in Kaohsiung’s harbor area. The Port of Kaohsiung enjoys safe, stable harbor conditions (average tidal variance: 0.48m; mean semidiurnal range: 0.68), a pleasant climate year-round, and convenient access to inland transportation (light rail, metro underground, metro buses, etc.). The Kaohsiung area offers attractive conditions for growing pleasure-craft-related businesses. Once completed, the Love River Bay Pleasure Yacht Marina will be the country’s largest pleasure craft marina and a model for future marina developments. Further, Kaohsiung City has a highly competitive, vertically integrated supply chain for the pleasure-craft industry that helps boost industry production values and underscores the strong potential of Kaohsiung’s star to rise as an internationally known pleasure-craft harbor and a magnet for related international investments. Yacht piers will be colorfully lit after dark to create a dreamy waterfront nightscape. Piers will also be open to smaller pleasure craft and commercial pleasure boats, creating opportunities for the public to get out onto the water for leisure and entertainment, expanding the breadth and depth of the offshore recreation sector, bringing coastal spaces back into the city’s consciousness, and fostering a genuine “ocean-city” ambiance across Kaohsiung City.
Completion of the Love River Bay Pleasure Yacht Marina Project is scheduled for 2018, after which it will be connected via Kaohsiung City’s light-rail system to other world-class structures such as the Kaohsiung Port Terminal and Cruise Service Center (scheduled for completion in 2019), the MCPMC, Kaohsiung Main Public Library, and Kaohsiung Exhibition and Convention Center. Further, the marina will be within close reach of other active projects, including the Old Port renewal district and harbor-side recreation activities, creating a variegated, relaxed environment filled with cultural-creativity, music, ferry & cruise adventures, port tours, and tourism. From the yacht marina, residents and visitors alike will be able to drink in the surrounding scenery of land and sea by day and the twinkling lights of the city and boats by night – a solid step forward for southern Taiwan’s ocean gateway to the world!
Contact: Construction Management&Engineering Department, TIPC Mr. Chih-wen Tseng
07-5219000#5102 T02615@twport.com.tw