Institute of Transportation, MOTC

　　Economy and efficiency are two main principles for running business. It is also true for port management. All ports in Taiwan are public-owned. To adapt to competitive circumstances in shipping industry, each harbour authority develops the most suitable wharf operation strategy based on each harbour’s condition. Currently, the operation of wharves can be categorized into three systems－the public wharf system, the priority arrangement system, and the leased wharf system.
　　The priority arrangement system is currently employed by the Harbour Authority of Keelung Port, and this system has been in practice for more than two decades. However, there are weaknesses in this system, and they have to be fixed immediately.
　　The simulation results of our study show that the priority arrangement system is not better than the first come first serve system. If the commodity volume is not increasing significantly in the future, from a customer-oriented point of view, the Harbour Authority of Keelung Port should consider abandoning the priority arrangement system.