Early stage of the handover of Taiwan from Japan, there were only two fishing harbors in Suao Bay: Nanfangao Fishing Harbor and Neipi Fishing Harbor. The overall length of the two fishing harbors was 2603 meters, with water depth from -1.8 to -2.7 meters, can berthing about 1,000 all kinds of fishing boats. On September 30, 1947, the Office of Suao was instituted under the Keelung Port Bureau, specializing in the inspection and measurement of fishing boats.
In July 1965, to respond to the demand for local economic development in the Lan-yang area, the central government decided to construct a small-scale commercial port on the northern side of Nanfangao. The construction was completed in June 1972, with three shallow-water wharves built to accommodate vessels under 3000 tons and a general cargo warehouse. At the same time, the Office of Suao Port under the Keelung Port Bureau.
On May 21, 1970, the Executive Yuan officially approved “Suao Port” as the auxiliary Port of “Keelung Port”. On December 1, 1971, it was the “Suao Port Bureau Branch Office” in Nanfangao to implement the import and export of cargo and other services. In 1972, it was approved for berthing of 3,000-ton ocean-going cargo ships.
On May 26, 1973, the then Premier, Chiang Ching-Kuo, when inspecting this port, instructed the enlargement of it to an international port and the establishment of the “Construction Office for Suao Port” to undertake the construction of enlargement.
On July 1, 1974, such construction began to move mountains and fill into the sea; the painstaking task went on till its completion in June 1983 with 800 thousand square meters of land reclaimed.
The enlargement of “Suao Port” took a total of nine years to complete at the cost of NT$7.98 billion, and finally built to be an international Port of top quality, which is capable of both relieving the congestion at “Keelung Port” and helping economic development in Lan-yang area.
In 1983, the construction of the Suao Port was completed. In 1984, due to the rapid development of local fisheries, and a dearth of berths at Nanfangao Fishing Harbor and Neipi Fishing Harbor, the Yilan County Government appropriated the small-scale commercial port of the Keelung Port Bureau in Nanfangao as the Nanfangao Third Fishing Harbor.
In the initial stage of the Port of Suao operation, with cargo handling and storage services for self-operated, publicly and privately operated. Pier No.1~9 were public terminals, with 80% of cargo tonnage handled of all. Pier No.10~13, General Cargo Wharf, was privately operated with 20% of cargo tonnage handled of all. Then, to increase port operational efficiency, the government promoted a policy for the Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center-Transshipment Hub. On January 1, 1999, executed a plan to rationalize a Loader hire system and to privatize handling operations.
To increase the operational competitiveness of the port, on September 13, 2010, the government approved setting up the Port of Suao Free Trade Zone which was 75.1 hectares. To introduce international logistics and green energy sectors into the port, it also connected with various local zones such as the Lung Te and Letzer Industrial Park and Yilan Science Park to expand the outsourcing industrial chain and attract more external investors into the Free Trade Zone. On February 10, 2017, the Port of Suao Free Trade Zone was reduced to 57.5 hectares which covers Pier No. 1~9, and warehouse stack facilities.
The former Port Bureau underwent a restructuring of the state-owned " Taiwan International Ports Corporation, Ltd.(TIPC) " on March 1, 2012. and The Suao Port Bureau Branch Office was renamed the Suao Port Branch Office of Keelung Port, TIPC.
Based on the positioning of Suao Port as an import and export cargo port for the Lanyang area and tourism port, the development strategy of Suao Port in the next five years(2022-2026) focuses on the north area in logistics and the south area in tourism.