For nearly sixty years Taiwan would not allow Chinese shipping to call directly – cargo ships were forced to call at Hong Kong or some other intermediate port. Officials have now signed an agreement which will open up direct shipping to Taiwan;after civil war in 1949, Taiwan had feared that China might attack with warships in disguise as cargo vessels. Work has started on a new international container terminal in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and is planned for completion in 2011. Direct shipping will allow costs to reduce and transit times to reduce; one of the main beneficiaries will be Ningbo in eastern China, from where the journey time will be reduced from 25 hours to 10 hours. There will be four new berths, which will hugely increase Kaohsiung’s handling capacity.