The first phase construction of Suao Port in northeastern Taiwan was completed Dec. 30, 1978, six months ahead of schedule. Work on this phase, which cost US$122.2 million to complete, started in July 1974, as one of the ten major construction projects.

Among the new facilities are seven piers, l,832 meters of breakwaters, three warehouses, a log pool and the latest navigational aids. Construction of the 965-meter outer port jetty at Suao was completed in mid-November 1978 at a cost of US$20 million. Two caisson style wharves, no.4 and no.5 have been constructed at a cost of US$4 million to handle 10,000-ton vessels by lighter and 5,000-ton ships at the dockside. Deep water wharves, covering Piers 8,9,10,11 and 12, have been opened to shipping. Shore projects include terminal buildings, a harbor police office, an administrative building, a telephone line and electric power supply. With these facilities, Suao can now handle 2.6 million metric tons of cargo a year compared with only 100,000 metric tons in 1975. Last year, the volume handled was 680,000 metric tons, made up mainly of cement exports and lumber imports.

A total of 630,000 square meters of tidal land was reclaimed during the construction period. Since the traditional way of hauling away earth by dump trucks is uneconomical and slow, a 1,200-meter conveyor belt was set up to move a mountain literally into the sea. This quiet, fast and efficient device, together with knowledge and techniques in reclaiming land, have been an important factor in accelerating the completion of the project.

The manufacture and loading of caissons is challenging work for the Retired Servicemen's Engineering Agency. Since the Pacific Ocean comes into direct contact with the mountains and cliffs around Suao Port, the building area is restricted to a floating dock or a pontoon. The caissons with a height of 22 meters (about the same as an eight-story building), a weight of 5,000 metric tons, and a cost of NT$1.6 million (US$44,000) each, are the largest ever constructed in Southeast Asia. To avoid problems associated with changes in the wind, the caisson must be towed at dawn and set in place at night. The Suao Harbor Construction Department, acting on advice from the Weather Bureau, has taken appropriate measures to prevent damage from typhoons.

In addition to taking some 2 million tons of cargo from the congested Keelung Harbor to the north, Suao Port will bolster industrial production in an area where development has been relatively slow in the past. With the completion of the North Link Railroad between Suao and Hualien, a major port city at the northern end of the narrow coastal plain due to be completed by the end of this year, further development in eastern Taiwan is possible. Moreover, in coordination with the port's construction, the government has formulated plans for industrial development in Ilan County. The Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, along with the Ilan County Government and the BES Engineering Corporation, set up a planning commission in 1977, which led to a start on the construction of the 236-hectare Lung Teh Industrial Park, 4.5 kilometers away from the new port. The Ministry is also preparing to open a 637-hectare extension to further develop the Lung Teh site, should it prove successful. Investment in the cement, chemical, plastic and food processing industries will be encouraged in the park.

To connect Suao Port with Lung Teh Industrial Park, and further to Keelung Harbor, a new coastal highway is under construction to replace the old and saturated Suao-Hualien coastal highway. The most difficult project is the construction of the Lan Yang Tunnel. Since the mountains around Suao port are made up of efflorescence shale, the excavation work is always hampered by collapsing earth. Hsiung Cheng-chung, director of the engineering office in charge of the project said that the Ret-Ser Engineering Agency crews have overcome many difficulties, through hard work which has often gone on around the clock. With a length of 910 meters, Lanyang is the longest tunnel on the highway. Although sophisticated techniques have been used to prospect the geological structures, imponderables such as gas, underground water, and changes in earth strata occur from time to time. Engineers must therefore be continuously on the alert. Hsiung said that once the H-shaped 20-centimeter thick steel girders used to support the tunnel were crushed by the collapse of the tunnel roof. The workers overcame all dangers such as this with their experience and judgment.

During the construction period, President Chiang Ching-kuo and other high-ranking government officials went to pay tribute to the courageous and highly skilled engineers. With the completion of the harbor, it is predicted that the eastern plain in IIan County will eventually become the fastest developing region in Taiwan, and relieve the Taipei area of some of its population pressures and industrial congestion.