Ferry Services Between Donggang and Liuqiu Suspended 沿海風浪增強 東琉線業者今明兩天停航

All ferry services but one have been cancelled on the 12th and 13th between Donggang Harbor and Liuqiu Island in Taiwan due to the impact of Typhoon Muifa. Visitors caught on to the only opportunity to return to main island early morning.  

The public ferry from Liuqiu Island slowly approached the Donggang harbor early morning. It was the only ferry service back to Dongnang on the 12th. All other ferry services have been cancelled due to the latest typhoon impact on the weather. People came to line up for the 7 a.m. ferry at just past 5 a.m. for the only ferry running today.

Visitor: “More than ten people lined up for the ferry at 5:30 a.m. It was the last ferry service available back; all other private ferry services have been suspended.”

Visitors: “Sixteen people are getting on the ferry and four decided to stay. Four people decided to stay behind. (Reporter: “Why are they not coming back?”) They want to stay in Liuqiu, there's not much wind and rain there.”

The only reason why the public ferry is running is because the government needed to bring it to Kaohsiung to fix its propeller. Most visitors wish to return to main island, but with some Liuqui Island residents also wanting to commute to main island for work, more than 40 passengers still got left behind. 

Chen Shun-shih, Captain of Liuxin Ferry: “I usually cruise between 1900 and 1950 rpm. Waves are bigger today, with a height of 1.5 meters so I'll keep it to just 1800 rpm today. The ride will be stable.”

Forced to end their trip early, passengers who have arrived back at Donggang arranged further transportation to go home. People should hold off on plans for trips to Liuqui Island since all ferry services between Donggang and Liuqiu Island have been suspended on Sept. 12 and 13 due to the typhoon. 

從小琉球開來的公船緩緩靠近東港碼頭，雖然才早上，這卻是12號唯一的船班。受颱風影響、沿海風浪增大，東琉線航班全部停航，只剩7點一班公船，擔心搭不到，遊客5點多就來排隊。

遊客說道：「（5點半）那時候十幾個吧，十來個（排隊），今天是最後一班船回來，其他民營的船都停航。」也有遊客說道，「回來16個，4個還在那邊，4個人還在那邊。他們還要住，那邊沒什麼風浪。」

公船因之前螺旋槳打到漂流木需要到高雄維修才順便載客回東港。除了少數遊客決定留下，多數遊客都趕著回來，加上要到台灣上班上課的小琉球居民，導致公船即便客滿，仍有40、50人沒搭到。

琉興號（公船）船長陳順仕表示：「平常時都（轉速）1千9百、1千9百5，今天回來就浪稍微大一點，1.5米轉速我就開那個1千8而已，那都還很穩。」

東港碼頭前被迫提早結束行程的遊客們等著要搭車返鄉。屏東沿海上午浪高已有1.5公尺，為確保安全，東琉線除了公船，各業者都公告12及13日皆停航，這兩日有搭船需求的民眾務必要注意船班資訊。