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Sunday, Dec. 6, 1998

City sees profit in Sister Port

Cultural ties to bring business partnership

By DOREEN C. BOWENS
Staff Writer

   Shuttlecock kicking. Roping steers. Diabolo spinning. Horseback riding. Dragon dancing.
   Corpus Christi and Keelung, Taiwan, have shared all this in the name of sisterhood. Now Corpus Christi officials are ready to get down to business with the community they have considered a Sister City since 1987.
   Community leaders have asked their counterparts in Keelung to become a Sister Port, a relationship they say could bring more shipping to the Port of Corpus Christi.
   The Sister Port program means that Port of Corpus Christi officials would introduce their customers to Keelung port officials, and vice versa, in hopes of forging new business ties for both ports, Corpus Christi officials said. The two ports also would share their methods of doing business with each other.
   "Sister Ports is almost a sure thing -- about 90 percent sure, " said Yalee Shih, the Keelung chairwoman of the Corpus Christi's Sister Cities Committee.
   Bill Dodge, who is port chairman and president of the Gulf Coast Region of Pacific Southwest Bank, said Sister Ports would explore potential business opportunities.
   "It is a multiplier effect," he said. "The more loading and unloading with the ships we do, the more jobs we create in Corpus Christi."
   During visits to Keelung, Corpus Christi city officials saw how that port, similar in size to Corpus Christi's, is doing a booming business in cargo besides oil.
   But Keelung's is bringing in ship lines such as Evergreen Maritime Corp. of Singapore, one of the largest freight shipping companies in the world.
   That made Dodge realize that Corpus Christi has the potential to do the same.
   "I think we are being much more proactive in getting business that we haven't previously pursued. Our commission has come to a realization that the world has evolved to a global market."
   Evergreen now includes Long Beach, Calif., Boston and Houston among its ports. Dodge says Corpus Christi can make a case to Evergreen that coming to Corpus Christi instead of Houston would be cheaper and less congested and would provide a deeper port.
   Keelung has made a good business from cargo containers -- goods in large metal boxes like those on semitrucks, which can be taken from ships and placed on trucks or railcars, officials said.
   Corpus Christi is considering the same type of business with a cargo container facility on property in San Patricio County next to La Quinta Ship Channel.
   "It's always beneficial to see how other ports conduct business and to be able to meet people and share knowledge," City Councilwoman Melody Cooper said.
   Corpus Christi began its relationship with Keelung in 1987 as an official Sister City. Shih, a local restaurateur who has maintained close ties to hometown in Taiwan, was instrumental in forming the relationship between Corpus Christi and Keelung.
   Through student exchange programs and visits by business and community leaders, including a November visit to meet Keelung's new mayor, the two communities began sharing cultures. Even congressmen have made the trip with Shih.
   Their next chance to share culture is Jan. 8 when a dance group from Chung Cheng Junior High School in Taipei will perform traditional Asian dragon dances in Selena Auditorium.
   Shih said she developed the dance group and trip as an incentive to get the kids off the streets in Taiwan.
   The 26 14- to 15-year-olds also will demonstrate shuttlecock kicking, which is similar to hackeysack; diabolo spinning, which is similar to spinning tops; and rope skipping, which is similar to double dutch.
   Cooper said Sister Cities is a great opportunity for her and others to mingle with other cultures and an example of how friendships can blossom into business partnerships.
   "It's a great opportunity," she said. "The big picture is how can we increase relationships as friends in business.
   "It is a really good learning experience to see how other countries operate."
   Staff writer Doreen C. Bowens can be reached at 886-4334 or by e-mail bowensd@scripps.com
   

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  © 1998 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.