Cruise ship calls and passenger numbers at Port of Keelung continue to rise. Regular dual homeport cruises between Keelung and Okinawa (Naha) aboard East Asia’s largest cruise ship MSC Bellissima (capacity: 5,600 passengers) launched in January, with Japan-based tour companies handling tour planning and sales for the Naha homeport side and Taiwan-based tour companies handling the same for the Keelung homeport side. Scheduled to operate for three months, Taiwan sales of these cruises have benefitted greatly from a weakened yen, leading to passenger departures from Keelung exceeding those from Naha. In particular, travel agencies have noted that bookings for the two Keelung departures scheduled during the Lunar New Year holiday (February 9th and 13th) have been selling especially well and that this bullish sales trend is expected to continue. If expectations pan out, Port of Keelung will be well on track to handle 560,000 cruise passengers this year (2024), which would be a 94% jump from the 288,000 handled just last year. With regard to the domestic Keelung-Matsu ferry route, the post-pandemic rebound in ferry travel as well as the addition to the route of the recently launched New Taima helped boost passenger numbers by 22.42% from 82,088 in 2022 to 100,493 last year (2023).

Just a short walk from the city’s main intercity bus terminal and train station, Port of Keelung’s West Passenger Terminal is ideally situated for making the most of public transportation. Also, the 400 passenger car capacity public parking lot and 100 tour bus capacity waiting zone alongside West Wharf Nos. 4-6 make it even easier for passengers to move quickly on to their next destination. In the runup to the Lunar New Year, Port of Keelung is set to implement holiday traffic controls to ensure that returning families as well as vacation-goers enjoy a smooth, safe, and enjoyable time in the city over this holiday.