Direct shipping between mainland, Taiwan halted

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Updated: 2003-05-21 14:12

Three ships from China's mainland suspended operations across the Taiwan Straits on Tuesday at the request of Taiwanese authorities who are fighting a growth in the number of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cases.

Services would be suspended for one month and the Taiwan side had also halted the operations of its three ships, said the administration of harbor affairs in Xiamen, southeastern China's Fujian Province.

Since May 2, a total of fewer than 2,000 passengers came into the mainland on the shipping line, significantly lower than the 1,800 people entering the mainland each day at peak times before SARS broke out in Taiwan.

The decision to pause operations was made by the administrationat a request from Jinmen of Taiwan.

The daily direct services across the Taiwan Straits decreased from 10 to four since the SARS situation worsened on the island inearly May.

Direct services between mainland and Taiwan ran every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday since the operation opened in April 2002.