Sun, May 09, 2010 page11

• Business Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■FINANCE

  BOT to open in Shanghai

  Bank of Taiwan (BOT, 臺灣銀行) plans to open a branch in Shanghai to offer banking services to Chinese clients. The move follows the bank’s establishment of yuan business in Hong Kong last year, BOT chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) told reporters yesterday in Taipei. With the rising number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan, Taiwan will offer cash withdrawal services to Chinese Unionpay cards through automated teller machines from 18 banks in Taiwan by the end of the month, Chang said. Separately, Taiwan Financial Holding Co (台灣金控), the parent of BOT, does not have any share sale plan this year or next year, Chang said.

  ■ENERGY

  Huaneng to start reactors

  China Huaneng Group (華能集團), China’s biggest power company, plans to start operating high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactors in Shandong Province in 2013, company vice president Huang Yongda (黃永達) told a climate conference in Beijing. China Huaneng and its partners, including Tsinghua University, are building the 200-megawatt trial nuclear plant using domestic technology, Huang said yesterday. The high-temperature gas-cooled reactors are “highly efficient and safe” and have support from the central government’s strategy to boost energy security, Huang said.

  ■TRANSPORTATION

  Cruise ship visits Keelung

  Keelung Harbor welcomed a liner from Star Cruises, the largest cruise line in the Asia-Pacific region, on Friday as it began its seasonal cruise service connecting Keelung and Japan’s Ryukyu Islands. The vessel, the SuperStar Libra, was scheduled to depart from Keelung at 10pm on Friday with 1,400 passengers on board for Japan’s Yonaguni Island. The four-day cruise will make port calls at several destinations in the Ryukyu Island chain, including Ishigaki Island. The SuperStar Libra, which has 740 cabins, is scheduled to operate 74 tours between Keelung and the Ryukyu Islands from now until Oct. 24.

  ■SPAIN

  Economy up in first quarter

  Spain’s economy took a tentative step out of recession by growing in the first three months of this year after six quarters of contraction, the Bank of Spain said on Friday. GDP rose 0.1 percent from January to March, but shrank 1.3 percent from a year earlier, the bank said. Spain’s large budget deficit remains a concern to the EU amid fears that the crisis over Greece’s large debt load could spread to other countries with large budget shortfalls, the bank said. Spain’s economy is four times the size of Greece’s, and last week Standard & Poor’s cut Spain’s credit rating from AA+ to AA.

  ■SHIPPING

  Oil tanker launched

  Brazil on Friday launched the first of 10 domestically built oil tankers it will use to boost its trade in “black gold” and give new life to its shipbuilding industry. The 274m-long vessel, named the Jaoa Candido after a famous black Brazilian sailor, cost US$120 million and can transport 1 million barrels of crude — approximately half the daily output of Brazilian state oil company Petrobras. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva led the launching ceremony, telling the 3,700 shipyard workers that the tanker symbolized “a people’s high affirmation.” Brazil is sitting on 14 billion barrels of proven reserves of crude oil and expects to more than triple that with recent offshore finds, propelling it into the ranks of major oil exporters.
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