Situated on the northeast coast of the island of Taiwan, and 1.2 miles from Suao town of Ilan County, Suao harbor includes the ports of Peifanao, Nanfanao and Suao. The location is about 50 nautical miles south of Keelung harbor and 40 nautical miles north of Hualien. Surrounded by mountains on three sides with its southeast entry open to the Pacific, the total water area of Suao harbor covers nearly 4,000,000 square meters, about the same as that of the Keelung harbor. It is linked with the West Line railway, via Ilan, and connects with Taipei, Keelung and Hualien by highways.
The expansion of Suao port has two purposes: to relieve congestion at Keelung and to promote development of the Ilan area. It will combine the four small ports on the northeast coast--Suao, Keelung, Patoutse and Shenao--to push the development of this area and improve the transportation of the northern island. The expansion program is divided into two parts, the commercial harbor and the military harbor. Armed forces are building the military harbor. The commercial harbor is divided into: areas for timber, for coastal transportation, for bulk cargoes and for ocean-going vessels. The construction work is being performed in two stages and will be completed in eight years. There will then be 14 deep-water wharves and four shallow-water wharves. The total capacity of general cargo handling will be 6,500,000 tons, with a potential added capacity of 3,500,000 tons, if further expansion is necessary.
The first stage of the construction work was started July 1,1974 and will be completed in June of 1979. The second stage will be started in July 1979, and completed in June 1982. Up to last July, the work schedule was 36.84 per cent completed. The main work includes construction of an outer breakwater, rubble mound, deep-water wharf and land reclamation. Pre-cast concrete is used for such construction work as revetments because of the heavy winds and high tides on the ocean. Suao port is a good natural harbor, but needs creation of more land reclaimed from the sea to serve as the hinterland. This also is a hard job to carry out. Suao is already handling imported logs under an expansion program of 1971.
How Suao port will appear upon completion
placement of rhombic bricks
completed outer breakwater rubble mound
placement of pre-cast girder at the trestle type quayage
placement of caisson at dawn
explosion for opening the access road
Building of caisson at sea
Piling at the trestle type quayage
Construction and placement of double T bricks
Completed outer breakwater rubble mound to the south
Tunnel interchange and highway overpass
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