Subscribe to RSS feedMajor lines caught up in Taiwan corruption scandal
The Taiwanese shipping industry has been embroiled in fraud allegations alleged to relate to efforts to boost the container throughput ranking of the port of Kaohsiung.
Kaohsiung port in Taiwan
The Taipei Times reported this morning that prosecutors had indicted 46 people in relation to alleged collaboration between shipping lines and officials to fake container volumes in a bid to cash in on an incentive scheme designed to boost the port's container numbers.
United Daily News has also reported that 21 government officials were indicted along with 25 employees of prominent shipping lines, including Yang Ming Marine Transport, APL, Evergreen Marine, Wan Hai Lines and NYK Logistics.
The investigation stems back to 2007 when Kaohsiung topped 10.2m teu in 2007, an increase of 4.6% on the previous year which made the port the world's eighth-biggest box port by volume that year.
The port, which is mostly used for transhipment, has since dropped out of the top 10.
Prosecutors allege that those indicted could have claimed up to US$10m in government incentives over a two year period.
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