Taiwan's main port is losing ground in global container traffic, and the state port operator is pushing back with a friendlier ranking — bad news for Taiwan's shipping and trade position.

• Kaohsiung has moved less than 10 million containers a year since 2020, dropping out of the world's top 20 by volume.
• Taiwan's audit office told the port company to explain the decline and fix it.
• The port company answered by pointing to a different ranking, from Norwegian ship classifier DNV, that puts Kaohsiung 9th worldwide.
• That DNV ranking scores things like green shipping, customer satisfaction and strategic value — not just how many boxes move through.
• The port's own figures show volumes slipped again last year after a brief rebound.

Outlook: The port company plans to court more shipping lines with marketing deals and upgrades, but volumes are unlikely to recover quickly.