Singapore shippers voice support for massive new terminal

   Shippers in Singapore said they support development of a massive new container terminal in the western part of the country.
   In an audacious move, Singapore, home to the world’s second-largest container port, is simultaneously undertaking a huge expansion of its Pasir Panjang Terminal while making plans to eventually relocate container operations to Tuas at the western edge of the country, an industrial zone about 10 to 15 miles from where the terminals are now.
   John Lu, chairman of the Singapore National Shippers’ Council, said, “the shippers in Singapore support this development as it centralizes and upgrades port efficiency while at the same time, boosts services. As maritime Singapore is a key pillar of the economy, contributing 7 percent of the country’s GDP and employing more than 170,000 people, the government is committed to developing it.
   “It has been known that in the latter part of 2014, the Pasir Panjang Terminal will continue its roll-out of new berths built under phases three and four of the four-phase project,” Lu said. When fully completed in 2020, the Pasir Panjang Terminal will raise Singapore’s total container berth capacity to 50 million TEUs.”
   Lu added, however, that Singpore is still committed to a long-term approach when it comes to infrastructure developemtn.
   “On a greenfield site in Tuas, Singapore will build a megaport, which will be capable of handling up to a total 65 million TEUs a year when fully completed,” Lu said. “Being located in close proximity to Singapore’s major industrial areas and international shipping routes, coupled with sheltered deep waters, Tuas is ideally suited for the purpose.”
   Last year, Singapore handled 32.6 million TEUs, a 2.9-percent increase over 2012, according to Lui Tuck Yew, Singapore’s minister for transport.
   According to Seatrade, that is just behind the 33.6 million TEUs handled by the Port of Shanghai last year.
   Singapore has a population of 5.3 million, and about 85 percent of the containers that arrive in Singapore are transshipped, said PSA Singapore, the national port authority. Singapore is where many carriers transfer containers from one ship to another — either through “hub-and-spoke” arrangements that connect mainline container ships to feeder vessels, or “cross strings” between two mainline operators.
   As the world’s top transshipment hub, Singapore is connected to 600 ports in 123 countries, PSA said, with daily sailings to every major port of call in the world.
   The U.K.-based port analyst Ben Hackett said much of the feeder cargo moving through Singapore goes to and from countries in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia, as well as more distant locations, such as eastern India and Australia. Some of the cargo not transshipped moves by truck to and from Malaysia. Hackett also noted that some cargo that comes off the terminals is assembled into new products, repackaged or otherwise manipulated before being returned to the container terminals.
   For more information on the Tuas port expansion project, read “Bigger Catch? Singapore has bold plan to relocate container terminals” on pages 58-59 in the May issue of American Shipper.