SINGAPORE (Commonwealth Union)_ Singapore’s port has reached an all-time high in arriving ship traffic, recording 3 billion annual gross tons in vessel arrivals so far in 2023.
The internal volume of all ships that arrive in a year, or the annual vessel arrival tonnage including their engine room and non-cargo spaces is a common maritime industry measure of vessel traffic calling at a port.
The record was achieved on the morning of 25th December, with the arrival of the Singapore-registered container ship ONE Olympus at Pasir Panjang Terminal.
Singapore’s port reached 1 bn gross tons in 2004 and 2 billion gross tons in 2011.
Marking the latest milestone on 26th December at port operator PSA’s office in Pasir Panjang, Acting Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat described it as an “especially significant” breakthrough, given the choppy waters that the country’s maritime industry had to navigate in the past few years.
Global chief executive of Ocean Network Express, which operates ONE Olympus, Jeremy Nixon, said the shipping company was proud that one of its ships has helped Singapore achieve this milestone.
Also read :
Singapore Airlines lands the Airbus A350 in Perth
Christmas Tree Trivia and Facts
It was called a “significant achievement” by Ong Kim Pong, group chief executive (designate) of PSA International, who pledged that the port operator would continue positioning Singapore as a premier hub port.
Chief executive of Jurong Port, Terence Seow, said the achievement reflected the reliability and resilience of Singapore’s maritime sector.
Chee said the biggest success factor for Singapore’s port was the strong partnership between the Government, unions and industry.
He said others may try to copy their hardware and infrastructure and may even try to follow their technologies and operating systems, but that cannot be avoided.
But he said that many find it difficult to replicate their trusted tripartite ecosystem.
Chee who pointed to the challenges facing the industry in recent years, recounted the industry downturn in 2016 and supply chain disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The industry is presently confronting slowdowns in production and consumption amid elevated inflation.
He also cited rising geopolitical tensions around the world and the wars between Israel and Hamas, and Russia and Ukraine, as factors that have given rise to economic uncertainty and instability.
The conflict between Hamas and Israel has spilled over to the Red Sea and affected ships sailing through the Suez Canal, added Chee.
Since 15th December, four of the world’s five largest container-shipping companies have paused or suspended services in the Red Sea, avoiding the vitally important Suez Canal over security concerns after attacks on commercial ships by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Around 30% of the world’s container trade zips through the Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The pause in operations through the waterway has already driven delivery times and freight costs up.
Chee said that the Ministry of Transport and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) were tracking these developments and keeping in close touch with their partners and other relevant parties to mitigate any disruption.
Elsewhere, work on the Tuas mega port is continuing apace. Chee said that three more berths had become operational in 2023 as part of the port’s first phase, which opened officially in September 2022.
This takes the total number of operational berths to eight.
Tuas port which is being developed in four phases will be the world’s largest fully automated terminal when completed in the 2040s.
Reclamation work on the port’s second phase is 70% complete, said Chee, adding that “good progress” has also been made on reclamation plans for the port’s third phase.
Operations at Singapore’s other ports – Keppel, Brani, Pasir Panjang and Tanjong Pagar will be consolidated there when it is ready,. The mega port will have a handling capacity of 65 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers, which is a one-third increase from Singapore’s current capacity.
Chee said the authorities were also making headway in improving port efficiency, with MPA commencing the use of a digital planning and coordination platform in October for vessels at Jurong Port and PSA terminals for cargo operations.
The platform displays real-time data on vessel and port resources, resulting in more efficient vessel turn-around times.
It will be rolled out to all vessels departing from and arriving in Singapore in 2024.
Between January and November, Singapore’s port handled 35.6 million TEUs of containers, according to the MPA website. It recorded 37.3 mn TEUs in 2022 – the second-highest container throughput on record for the country.
