Yang Ming and TIPC to be Merged
Taiwan’s ministry of transportation and communications has mooted the possibility of merging container carrier Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp and Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC), as part of reform measures aimed at helping the weak maritime sector, reports said.
According to MANA, The ministry’s transportation committee met on Monday and touched on possible measures to salvage debt-ridden and partially state-owned Yang Ming, which has recorded a loss of TWD13bn ($408m) in the first three quarters of this year.Legislator Chen Ou-po of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) proposed that Yang Ming, which is 33% government-owned, can merge with state-owned TIPC, Taipei Times reported.
TIPC was established in 2012 to take over the port operation and management functions of Kaohsiung, Keelung, Taichung and Hualien.
Chen noted that it would be difficult for Yang Ming to merge with fellow container carrier Evergreen Marine as the latter is a privately-owned company, the local media reported.