The Port of Taichung lies on the western shores of the island of Taiwan about 120 kilometers west-northwest of Hualien Port and about 130 kilometers southwest of the Port of Taipei, the nation's capital. Facing the Taiwan Strait and China's mainland, the Port of Taichung is the third biggest city in Taiwan, with a population of more than one million people.

While the base of the Port of Taichung economy is small business, it has a diverse economy where traditional businesses and family-run shops are mixed with big industrial areas, factories, and a busy commercial sector. The city's industrial zone, Taichung's World Trade Center building, and many manufacturing plants are located near the Port of Taichung. A new science-based industrial park is being built in the northeast district of the Port of Taichung.

The indigenous peoples of Taiwan grew millet and taro in the plains of the Port of Taichung and were hunter-gatherers. Today, several areas in the town bear the old indigenous names.

In 1682, China took western Taiwan from the Cheng family. The Port of Taichung was founded in 1705 when the Chinese Manchu Qing Dynasty was strengthening its control of western Taiwan. The Chinese then erected a garrison in 1721 at the site of today's Taichung Park.

The native peoples did not go quietly. After having been forced to provide labor for the Chinese, the natives revolted in 1731 and were forced into the mountains by Qing armies. In 1786, another rebellion started in a town just south of the Port of Taichung in which the rebels sought to overthrow the Qing and restore the earlier Ming Dynasty. The rebellion lost focus, though, and a local coalition of Chinese and aboriginal volunteers joined the government to defeat the rebels. In 1885, Taiwan became a province of China's Qing Dynasty.

When China lost the Sino-Japanese War in 1895, Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese who changed the city's name from Dadun to Taichu. The Japanese began to develop the city; however, they were brutal in their repression of the local people. In 1902, after promising amnesty to rebels who surrendered, the Japanese murdered some 360 rebels and their families.

The Port of Taichung's first market was built in 1908, and it is still a popular downtown spot to buy food and other items. Two wealthy intellectuals, Lin Hsien-tang and brother Lin Lie-tang, established the Port of Taichung's first high school in 1913 to build support for a Taiwanese localization movement and the culture of Taiwan. Taichu Train Station opened in 1917, and it still operates.

Japanese Imperial authorities declared Taichu a city in 1920. When a Taiwanese cultural association was moved from Taipei to Taichu in 1927 by Lin Hsien-tang, the Port of Taichung became a cultural and nationalism center for all of Taiwan. The Japanese began construction of the Port of Taichung harbor in 1938, but the project was postponed with the start of the war. Despite its prosperity, World War II brought an end to the city's growth and development.

The Japanese surrendered Taiwan to forces of the Republic of China in late 1945. Immediately after the war, Taiwan faced turmoil as three factions struggled for control of the island. The Port of Taichung became a center for organized crime.

When the Chinese Nationalist Party under Chiang Kai-shek lost the Chinese Civil War, they moved the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan with Taipei as its capital. The government declared the Port of Taichung a special municipality in 1949.

When the government promoted economic expansion and international trade in the early 1960s, imports and exports soon clogged the existing ports at Keelung and Kaohsiung. In 1968, the government developed a plan to make the Port of Taichung a new international port, and construction began in 1973. The first vessel launched from the new Port of Taichung in 1976.

Today, the Port of Taichung is a busy commercial and industrial center with a booming retail sector. New upscale department stores and malls and luxury condo complexes spring up regularly. The city also has a large and growing tourism industry.

The Taichung Harbor Bureau is the port authority for the Port of Taichung. Today, the harbor bureau is focusing on developing the Port of Taichung as a container feeder port, a distribution hub for agricultural produce, a free trade and logistics center, an oil transshipment center, and a focal point for passenger and freight traffic across the Taiwan Strait.

The Port of Taichung is one of Taiwan's four international commercial ports. It covers an area of 3793 hectares and contains 49 berths, 17 specialized zones, and three free trade zones. The Taichung Free Trade Port Zone began operating in 2005, and in 2008, the volume of cargo through the free trade zone was 1.18 million metric tons.

In 2007, 7808 vessels called at the Port of Taichung, including 3909 inbound and 3899 outbound vessels. The Port of Taichung handled a total of over 24.6 million tons of throughput in 2007, including 20.6 million tons of bulk cargoes, 3.9 million tons of containerized cargoes, and 186 thousand tons of general cargoes. The Port of Taichung handled a total of 810.4 thousand TEUs of containerized cargo, including 305.7 thousand TEUs of imports and 320.8 TEUs of exports as well as 183.9 thousand TEUs of transshipments.

The Port of Taichung's biggest trading partners in 2007 were Indonesia (5.9 million tons), Hong Kong (2.7 million tons), Australia (2.6 million tons), Japan (2.1 million tons), and the United States (1.7 million tons). Other trading partners included Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Singapore, and the Philippines.

The entrance channel to the outer harbor is 350 meters long and 16 meters deep, while the inner channel is 400 meters long and 16 meters deep. The Port of Taichung contains two turning basins, both with a depth of 15 meters. The North Turning Basin is one thousand meters in diameter, and the South Turning Basin is 1100 meters diameter. The Industrial Basin is 500 meters wide with depths from 16 to 18 meters.

The north breakwater for the Port of Taichung is 2818 meters long, and the south breakwater is 1397 meters long. The Port of Taichung's harbor-craft basin covers 10.3 hectares of water surface and has depths from 3.5 to 4.5 meters with the central pier having alongside depth of 7 meters. The Fishing Port covers 32 hectares of land and 27 hectares of water surface with depths from 3.5 to 4.5 meters.

The Port of Taichung contains commercial wharves with 49 berths with a total length of over 11.9 thousand meters. The grain wharf contains two berths with a total length of 500 meters with alongside depth of 13 meters. The non-dangerous chemicals wharf has two berths a total of 450 meters long. Berth 3 is 250 meters long with alongside depth of 13 meters, and Berth 4 is 200 meters long with alongside depth of 11 meters.

The Port of Taichung contains 23 berths in the north pier area serving bulk cargoes with a total length of 3420 meters and alongside depths from 10 to 14 meters. Berth lengths range from 180 to 320 meters, with most berths being between 200 and 250 meters long. The Port of Taichung Container Wharf has nine berths totaling 2377 meters in length, all with alongside depth of 14 meters, served by 35-ton capacity container hoists. Container berths range from 250 to 337 meters in length.

The Cement Wharf in the Port of Taichung contains three berths with a total length of 530 meters. With alongside depth of 11 meters, Berth 27 is 200 meters long, and Berth 28 is 145 meters long. Berth 4A is 185 meters long with alongside depth of 9 meters.

The Port of Taichung's Dangerous Chemicals Wharf contains seven berths each 250 meters long for a total of 1750 meters. All berths have alongside depth of 14 meters except Berth West 1, which has alongside depth of 13 meters.

In the South Wharf area of the Port of Taichung are the Coal Wharf and Waste Steel Wharf. The Coal Wharf has four berths of a total 1360 meters with alongside depth of 18 meters. The Waste Steel Wharf has one berth of 250 meters in length with alongside depth of 12 meters.

The Working Boats Wharf, located in the submarine canal, is 310.5 meters long with alongside depth of 3.5 meters.

Taichung City is blessed with a comfortable climate and efficient public transportation. The center of a popular tourist region, the Port of Taichung has an average annual temperature of 23 ºC (73 ºF), and that temperature seldom varies more than 13 ºC (or 23 ºF) between summer and winter. The Port of Taichung is warmest July through September and coolest in January and February. Rain is heaviest from May to August and lightest from October to February. This lucky city is unaffected by typhoons. Visitors to the Port of Taichung will want to check out these popular attractions.

The National Museum of Natural Science is actually seven museums in one. The Science Center has hands-on exhibits demonstrating scientific principles. There is also a life sciences section, a botanical garden, a greenhouse, an earthquake museum, and sections on global cultures and global environments. Especially if you're bringing children, plan to spend at least a whole day there.

The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in the Port of Taichung is a big, elaborate museum for modern arts. It has rotating visual exhibits and a fancy children's section with hands-on exhibits and unique toys and games.

The Taichung Winery started operating in the Japanese era. Today, it contains displays on the history of the winery and on wine-making in general. At the production exhibition center, visitors can learn about and sample their herbal wines. The winery claims that its Yuher Ever Health Chiew will cure ailments and extend life for the healthy.

The Port of Taichung Folklore Park is a great place to learn about the traditional Taiwanese way of life in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. It contains a Fujian provincial home and a traditional Taiwanese farmhouse. A special treat is the recreated traditional shopping street with teahouse and stores where all types of folk wares are available for purchase. The basement museum under the Fujian house contains hundreds of objects from traditional Taiwanese life including religious, household, farming, and other every-day items.