A new cruise ship pier will be built in Penghu County, Taiwan, as part of an investment by Norwegian cruise firm Royal Caribbean.
The new facility will be sufficient to cater for ships like Oasis of the Seas, the world’s second largest cruise ship, which weighs more than 100,000 tons, and her sister ship, Allure of the Seas, which is 5 centimetres longer - measuring 362 metres long and 72 metres high.
The pier is due to open in 2016 within the area’s archipelago of islands. The firm expects the development to boost Taiwan as a cruise destination, bolstering existing ports of call in Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien.
Taiwan's Transportation Minister Yeh Kuang-shih has hinted to locals news reporters that a new partnership with Royal Caribbean and Taiwan International Ports Co may lead to another pier in Penghu following the 2016 opening.
Penghu is comprised of 90 isands has been described as the "pearl of the Taiwan Strait". The minister has also referred to the pier joint venture as the “single most important” foreign tourism investment in Taiwan.
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