With the rise of Shenzhen and other harbor cities, Kaohsiung, once the world's third biggest handler of containers, has fallen to sixth. Besides a stagnation in volume of traffic, the city's economic indicators also reflect the problems of Taiwan's leading port city: In 2005, average unemployment for the whole year was 4.2 %, among the highest in the country.
在深圳等港口興起後，原本長居世界前 3 大貨櫃港的高雄，現在已落到第 6，除了吞吐量停滯，該市經濟指標也反映這個台灣第一大港的困境：民國 94 年，高雄全年平均失業率高達 4.2 %，與後山的花蓮等縣市並列全國最高。