April 9, 2016 by Mike Poverello

Singapore Builds Transshipment Capacity

PSA Singapore Terminals

Two new container berths capable of serving large container ships will be operated by COSCO-PSA Terminal in Singapore in 2017.

COSCO-PSA Terminal (CPT), a joint venture company formed by COSCO Pacific Limited and PSA Corporation, is investing in the new berths, and will move from its current two-berth terminal to three new mega berths as part of a Pasir Panjang Terminal expansion project.

A few of the planned 15 berths in Phases 3 and 4 of the Pasir Panjang Terminal are already operational. The rest of the S$3.5 billion ($2.6 billion) project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017, pushing Singapore’s annual container handling capacity to 50 million TEUs.

All the new berths at Pasir Panjang Terminal are designed to be able to handle container ships with capacities larger than 10,000 TEUs.

PSA Singapore currently operates 57 berths at its container terminals in Tanjong Pagar, Keppel, Brani and Pasir Panjang. The terminals at Pasir Panjang are PSA’s most advanced. The berths at Pasir Panjang Phases 3 and 4 are up to 18 meters deep and equipped with quay cranes able to reach across 24 rows of containers to serve the world’s largest container ships. They also feature the latest port innovations such as a zero-emission, fully-automated electric yard crane system.

Singapore is the world’s second busiest container port after Shanghai in China, which took over Singapore in 2010. Source: Maritime Executive

June 25, 2015 by Mike Poverello

Port of Singapore – Best Seaport in Asia for 27th time

Port of Singapore [Picture credit – singaporevisablog.wordpress.com]

The Port of Singapore has been named the best seaport in Asia for the 27th time – beating fierce rivals Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The honour was given out at the 2015 Asia Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain Awards (AFLAS) held in Hong Kong here the other day.

The AFLAS awards, organised by freight and logistics publication Asia Cargo News, honour organisations for demonstrating leadership as well as consistency in service quality, innovation, customer relationship management and reliability.

Determined by votes cast by readers of Asia Cargo News, the Port of Singapore clinched the award for its leading performance on a range of criteria, including cost competitiveness, container shipping-friendly fee regime, provision of suitable container shipping-related infrastructure, timely and adequate investment in new infrastructure to meet future demand and the facilitation of ancillary services.

The other finalists in the Asia category this year were the Port of Hong Kong and Port of Shanghai.

Said Mr Andrew Tan, chief executive of Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA): “We will continue to work closely with all our stakeholders to strengthen our competitiveness as a premier global hub port and international maritime centre.

“Singapore will also continue to plan and invest ahead, such as our commissioning of Pasir Panjang Terminal Phases 3 and 4 this week which will increase the overall capacity of Singapore’s port to 50 million TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units) when fully operational.”

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday officially opened the terminals. When the expansion is fully operational by the end of 2017, Singapore will be able to handle a total of 50 million TEUs of containers annually.

MPA said the Port of Singapore continued to achieve good growth in 2014. Its annual vessel arrival tonnage reached 2.37 billion gross tonnes (GT). Its container throughput hit 33.9 million TEUs, while total cargo tonnage handled reached 580.8 million tonnes.

Its total volume of bunkers remained the highest in the world, at 42.4 million tonnes. The total tonnage of ships under the Singapore Registry of Ships was 82.2 million GT, putting Singapore among the top 10 ship registries in the world.

July 17, 2014 by Mike Poverello

Port of Singapore – Gateway to Asia

Earlier this year Reuters featured a series of excellent photographs by Singapore-based photographer Edgar Su, who spent time documenting working life in and around the Port of Singapore. Connected to more than 600 ports in some 120 countries, Singapore is one of the world’s busiest shipping hubs, and is often called the gateway to Asia. It plans to increase its total capacity dramatically as it competes with other massive ports in the region such as Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen in China and Busan in South Korea. Source: Reuters