Keelung Customs (KLC), with a wide jurisdictional area, is adjacent to the highly developed and densely populated Taipei metropolitan area. Compared with other field Customs offices, KLC has the following features:

1.Covering the Most Ports:

Four international commercial ports: Keelung, Taipei, Hualien, and Suao Ports as well as one industrial port: Hualien Hoping Industrial Port and two Mini Three-Link Transportation ports: Fuao and Baisha Ports in Matsu are under KLC’s jurisdiction.

a.Keelung Port:

Keelung Port is close to Taipei metropolitan area, the political and economic center of Taiwan, and its hinterland stretches far to Hsinchu. After years of developing and expanding, Keelung Port now has 40 wharves in operation and 5 port container terminals, which are Keelung Port West Coast Container Terminal of Taiwan International Ports Co., Ltd., Lianxing East Coast Port Container Terminal, Yangming Marine Transport Keelung Port Container Terminal, Taiji International Logistics Container Terminal, and China Container Terminal. Cargo transportation and port facilities are all well established.

b. Taipei Port:

In 2004, Ministry of Transportation and Communications proclaimed Taipei Port to be an auxiliary port of Keelung International Commercial Port. The port mainly handles cargo transportation, and in the past five years, the volume of cargo transportation has surpassed that of Keelung Port. It will serve as a deep-sea cargo transportation port in the future and take the responsibility of clearing bulk cargos and e-commerce consignments (maritime express).

c. Hualien, Suao Ports and Others:

Both Hualien Port and Suao Port are outstanding natural harbors; Hoping Port is an industrial port in Hoping Cement Specialized Zone, Hualien. All the aforementioned are in good geographical condition beneficial to future development. Fuao Port and Baisha Port in Matsu have been designated as Mini Three-Links Transportation ports by Executive Yuan.

2. The Most Tariff Revenue:

KLC is close to the populous and prosperous Taipei metropolitan area, whose dynamic economy and great consumption capacity have resulted in the highest amount of items of import/export commodities. KLC’s tariff revenue accounts for more than 50% of the national tariff revenue in the past few years, ranking first among the four field Customs offices like always.

3. The Largest Jurisdictional Area and the Most Customs Clearance Units:

To cope with the vast jurisdictional area and inland container yards and warehouses, seven independent Customs clearance units have been set up to provide stakeholders with easy access to Customs services. KLC is headquartered at Keelung Port, and there are four branches: Wudo, Taoyuan, Bali, located in Taipei Port, and Hualien with Suao and Matsu Sections subordinate to Hualien Branch.

4. The Largest Volume of Customs Clearance for Maritime Express Consignments:

a. To take advantage of not only the short sailing time (only four hours for express ships) and large carrying capacity of cross-strait maritime transportation, but also the convenient, efficient Customs clearance and geographical advantage of Taipei Port, Council for Economic Planning and Development, Executive Yuan held the 23rd Service Industry Promotion Team Conference in 2012 to respond to the increasingly mature development of cross-border e-commerce platforms and logistics and the changes in public shopping habits, and resolved to actively establish maritime express handling units in order to increase the capacity for imports/exports, promote the smooth flow of clearance, and boost employment and the economy.

b. Bali Branch is responsible for the administration of Taipei Port, where currently three handling units are in operation, including Taipei Port International Logistics Co., Ltd. (established in April, 2015), Taiwan International Ports Logistics Corporation (established in October, 2015), and Taipei Port Container Terminal Co., Ltd. (established in May, 2020). There are 12 Customs clearance channels in total, making it the port with the largest volume of Customs clearance for maritime express consignments in Taiwan with approximately 2,000 containers cleared per month.

c. In response to the growing demand for maritime express services, Hualien Branch approved Asian Express Service Co., Ltd. of establishing a maritime express handling unit at Fuao Port in Matsu, the first to be on an outlying island, in November, 2022. Since then, with Mini Three-Link Transportation, goods from Mainland China are transported to Matsu for Customs clearance and then transited to Taiwan through domestic shipping routes.

Front view of Keelung Customs Building