Keelung Port Construction Survey Commission was established, all of its participating technicians having had previous port construction and civil engineering experience. In 1898 (Meiji Year 31), it was planned that Keelung would serve as a purely commercial port, but with contingency plans for military applications should the need arise.

Keelung port construction proceeded in 4 phases over a period of 46 years, from 1900 (Meiji Year 33) until 1945 (Showa Year 20), when Japan was defeated in World War II. Due to budgetary constraints, the first phase was limited in scope. After dredging of the inner harbor of the port, it could simultaneously handle the loading or unloading of two 3,000-ton class steamships. The dredged silt and stones were employed as landfill, in all creating 47,500 ping [1 ping= 36 square feet] of new land on the eastern shore of the bay in the areas of “Little Keelung” and other communities. As the result of this first phase, however, Keelung’s potential as a seaport had only begun to be developed.

With commencement of the second phase of the port construction project in 1906 (Meiji Year 39), Keelung Harbor formally entered upon the period of largest-scale revamping of its inner harbor. After Seawall construction was completed Keelung Harbor was divided, with Hsientungpi as a demarcation, into inner and outer harbors, and construction of all inner harbor docks was completed. With its long-stretching straight docks and its advanced onshore transport and warehouse facilities, together with hydraulic engineering performed on the three rivers running through the city enabling them to