As the world actively responds to climate change and the trend toward net-zero emissions, ports worldwide are accelerating green transformation to build low-carbon, sustainable transport systems. For Taiwan, as an island economy, ports serve not only as vital gateways for foreign trade but also as key nodes for domestic cargo circulation. Reducing carbon emissions while maintaining transport efficiency has become a critical issue for port cluster development.
From Land-Transport Dependence to Maritime Diversification
For a long time, domestic container transfers have relied heavily on road transport, which not only generates high carbon emissions but also contributes to road congestion and transport risks. In response to the national 2050 net-zero emissions policy and to strengthen overall synergistic benefits across the port cluster, TIPC has actively promoted the "Blue Highway" transport model, encouraging shipping carriers to transfer containers among ports by sea and thereby reduce dependence on road transport.
Currently, the blue highway shipping routes cover the Ports of Keelung, Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. In addition to two domestic routes operated by national-flag carriers, foreign carriers also provide carriage using spare capacity on international services, mainly serving north–south container transfer demand and gradually forming a maritime transport network among ports in the cluster.
Boosting Shipping Lines’ Willingness to Participate through Incentive Mechanisms
To increase carriers' willingness to adopt maritime transfer, TIPC introduced the "Blue Highway Container Volume Incentive" in 2025, using concrete incentives to encourage carriers to raise the share of sea-based transfers and to enhance port coordination and flexible capacity allocation. In 2025, Blue Highway transport achieved carbon reductions of 185,500 metric tons, demonstrating clear decarbonization benefits from shifting cargo from land to sea and effectively advancing the policy goal of diverting highway transport.
Building a long-term Strategy for a Green Port System
The Blue Highway is not merely an adjustment in transport mode, but an important component of port-cluster structural optimization and green transformation. Going forward, TIPC will continue to expand route scale, strengthen port-cluster collaboration and transport resilience, and build a green transport system that combines decarbonization benefits with efficiency advantages.
Amid the wave of net-zero transformation, Taiwan's port cluster is taking the sea as its pathway, charting a new Blue course that balances environmental sustainability with industrial development.
