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Description
In 1985, a Japanese ferry New Kyushu was launched. She has an elegant, slim, arc-shaped hull with bright orange and white color scheme. After 12 years service in Japan, her company decided to put her for sell. Meanwhile in Taiwan, people on the Matsu archipelago could only take Navy's support vessel to travel between Keelung City on the main island (Taiwan) and their home, so the county government decided to buy a used ferry from Japan. The ferry they bought, called New Kyushu, was later named as Taima.

Taima doesn't look much different from New Kyushu, except for the stabilizers, the color scheme of the funnels, and two Chinese characters "Ma-tsu (馬祖)" painted on the hull.

She became a safer and more comfortable way to home for Matsu people, but it didn't take much time to make people realize they actually needed a brand new ship.

In 2015, Taima Star was launched. This time Taiwan made its own ferry, and people were looking forward to the leading of this modern ship through the next few decades. However...

In the first year of Taima Star's service, the number of her breakdown had reached 20 times. Less than a month after a refit in May 2016, she were broken again. Then, she got broken every year. On June 3, 2023, Taima Star lost her power and stucked in the middle of the sea with nearly 400 passengers of hers for 12 hours.

It's not her fault. The process of her construction has already been a mess. That means the old Taima, who had been 30 years old in 2015, hadn't been able to retire yet.

In 2019, the central goverment approved the construction of New Taima project; in 2021, New Taima's keel was laid down in Japan and was launched 4 months later; on April 16, 2023, her maiden voyage began in Matsu.

On April 13, 2023, I came to Keelung Port to prepare for the arrival of MS Queen Elizabeth on the next day. This would be an exhausting job, but still I decided to take a look at vessels mooring in the port.

On the west side of the harbor, there were two ships mooring side by side. The orange one Taima was obviously older than the other one in blue. Her style was unfamiliar for me, unlike the one next to her, the blue ship New Taima looked really new and seemed like a rookie - somehow she gave me this feeling.

After I finished a walk and came back, when I passed by the orange one, she was ready to depart. I took the last few photos of her and recorded while she was leaving. Since videos will eat up my phone's RAM, usually I don't do this. But, I felt that she would leave forever someday soon.

In June 2023, I visited Keelung Port twice, but neither the times Taima was in her wharf. Instead, it was New Taima mooring there. Later I checked the news and realized Taima had retired on April 27.

Which means the only time I met her is also the last time.

On August 26, Taima departed to the scrapyard in Chittagong with another retired ferry Tai Hwa followed behind. Two elders now live in people's memory.

List of large ferries in Taiwan:
(Mastu<=>Keelung City)
Taima 1997-2023 (launched as New Kyusyu in 1985)
Taima Star 2015-
New Taima 2023-

(Penghu <=> Kaohsiung City)
Penghu 1959-1970
Tai Peng 1971-1989
Tai Hwa 1989-2023
Penghu (2) 2023-

Related info:
Photos of Taima
The previous concept art of humanized New Taima (abandoned)
Photos of New Taima
Humanized Tai Hwa
Photos of Tai Hwa -1
Photos of Tai Hwa -2
Humanized Penghu (2)
Photos of Penghu (2)

Description
In 1985, a Japanese ferry New Kyushu was launched. She has an elegant, slim, arc-shaped hull with bright orange and white color scheme. After 12 years service in Japan, her company decided to put her for sell. Meanwhile in Taiwan, people on the Matsu archipelago could only take Navy's support vessel to travel between Keelung City on the main island (Taiwan) and their home, so the county government decided to buy a used ferry from Japan. The ferry they bought, called New Kyushu, was later named as Taima.

Taima doesn't look much different from New Kyushu, except for the stabilizers, the color scheme of the funnels, and two Chinese characters "Ma-tsu (馬祖)" painted on the hull.

She became a safer and more comfortable way to home for Matsu people, but it didn't take much time to make people realize they actually needed a brand new ship.

In 2015, Taima Star was launched. This time Taiwan made its own ferry, and people were looking forward to the leading of this modern ship through the next few decades. However...

In the first year of Taima Star's service, the number of her breakdown had reached 20 times. Less than a month after a refit in May 2016, she were broken again. Then, she got broken every year. On June 3, 2023, Taima Star lost her power and stucked in the middle of the sea with nearly 400 passengers of hers for 12 hours.

It's not her fault. The process of her construction has already been a mess. That means the old Taima, who had been 30 years old in 2015, hadn't been able to retire yet.

In 2019, the central goverment approved the construction of New Taima project; in 2021, New Taima's keel was laid down in Japan and was launched 4 months later; on April 16, 2023, her maiden voyage began in Matsu.

On April 13, 2023, I came to Keelung Port to prepare for the arrival of MS Queen Elizabeth on the next day. This would be an exhausting job, but still I decided to take a look at vessels mooring in the port.

On the west side of the harbor, there were two ships mooring side by side. The orange one Taima was obviously older than the other one in blue. Her style was unfamiliar for me, unlike the one next to her, the blue ship New Taima looked really new and seemed like a rookie - somehow she gave me this feeling.

After I finished a walk and came back, when I passed by the orange one, she was ready to depart. I took the last few photos of her and recorded while she was leaving. Since videos will eat up my phone's RAM, usually I don't do this. But, I felt that she would leave forever someday soon.

In June 2023, I visited Keelung Port twice, but neither the times Taima was in her wharf. Instead, it was New Taima mooring there. Later I checked the news and realized Taima had retired on April 27.

Which means the only time I met her is also the last time.

On August 26, Taima departed to the scrapyard in Chittagong with another retired ferry Tai Hwa followed behind. Two elders now live in people's memory.

List of large ferries in Taiwan:
(Mastu<=>Keelung City)
Taima 1997-2023 (launched as New Kyusyu in 1985)
Taima Star 2015-
New Taima 2023-

(Penghu <=> Kaohsiung City)
Penghu 1959-1970
Tai Peng 1971-1989
Tai Hwa 1989-2023
Penghu (2) 2023-

Related info:
Photos of Taima
The previous concept art of humanized New Taima (abandoned)
Photos of New Taima
Humanized Tai Hwa
Photos of Tai Hwa -1
Photos of Tai Hwa -2
Humanized Penghu (2)
Photos of Penghu (2)