The Port of Singapore saw a record high container throughput of 37.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) as it remained open in 2021. The year also saw Singapore handling 599.0 million tonnes of cargo. Vessel arrival reached 2.81 billion gross tonnage (GT).
Bunker sales during the year also remained strong, maintaining Singapore’s position as the top bunkering port. In 2021, Singapore crossed 50 million tonnes for the second time in the port’s history.
Singapore has also been ranked the top Leading Maritime City of the World for the fifth straight year in the international benchmarking study by Norwegian classification society, DNV; and Norwegian consultancy, Menon Economics AS.
In addition, the Singapore Registry of Ships continued to rank amongst the top ship registries globally. The total tonnage of ships under the Singapore flag stood at 92.3 million GT as at December 2021.
Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, S Iswaran, announced the port’s performance for 2021 at the Singapore Maritime Foundation New Year Conversations on Jan 13.
In his speech, the minister also outlined the four thrusts – resilience, digitalisation, decarbonisation and talent – that will guide the government’s efforts to advance the maritime sector and consultations with the industry and unions on the refreshed Sea Transport Industry Transformation Map.
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“Maritime Singapore has shown itself to be resilient despite the challenges of the pandemic over the past two years. I am confident that the continued strong tripartite partnership between the Government, industry and unions will see us through the recovery phase and allow Maritime Singapore to emerge even stronger,” says Iswaran.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) also awarded close to $3 million of funding to eight projects involving 35 companies working together to boost the development of digital products and solutions for the bunkering sector.
These projects are part of the first industry transformation map to digitalise the maritime industry, and will support the effort of SGTraDex in data sharing across bunkering stakeholders.
Photo: Bloomberg
