The mega port of Tuas will be operational from 2021: Singapore wants to double the volume of trade and continue to be the main hub for container transshipment in Southeast Asia. Article by Giusy Caretto
Singapore’s skyscrapers stand tall and proud, a symbol of the growth of a country that continues to surprise everyone. Speed, technology, desire to excel: everything in Singapore has changed in a short time and everything continues to change. Ports are also changing, migrating and transforming: work is slowly being reduced at the container terminal in Tanjong Pagar, and the cranes that have kept the commercial relationship alive with other states up to now are about to be dismantled and sold as parts. replacement.
Almost everything is ready for the migration to the new mega-port of Tuas, where Singapore’s technological and commercial challenge should start. “With regional ports competing for trade and new trade routes ready to open, we cannot rest on our laurels,” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote on Facebook last October. “The mega port of Tuas will strengthen our role as an international maritime platform”. A STRATEGIC POSITION
The opening to maritime traffic is scheduled for December 2021 and everything already looks promising: the configuration of the project seems to be the winning one, Singapore will continue to maintain its position as the main hub for container transshipment in the south-east Asian.
The remediation works for the first phase of development have already started, while the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore has already awarded, with a contract of 1.46 billion dollars, the works for a second phase of development in the port, which it includes works to dredge the Tuas Basin, create dock structures and reclaim 387 hectares of land (more than three times the area of ​​Hong Kong Disneyland Resort). UP TO 65 MILLION COINTAINERS
Once the project is completed, the mega-port of Tuas, in 2040, will be able to manage up to 65 million standard-sized containers, also taking advantage of new technologies, automation (self-driving vehicles are currently being tested at the Terminal Panir di Pasir) and Big data analysis. The port of Tuas is designed to accommodate mega-ships that can hold 24,000 containers, thanks to long linear anchorages and deep waters.
Singapore will boast a port to the west, an airport to the east and Changi Airport Terminal 5, the largest airport terminal in Singapore .
The old port of Singapore came to life in the heart of the city and in the past served as a focal point for trade and goods. The lease for Singapore’s three city terminals, Tanjong Pagar, Keppel and Brani, however, expires in 2027, and according to government plans, the land that will be vacated will be redeveloped as part of the Greater Southern Waterfront project.
That is why, starting in 2016, the Singapore port operator PSA has begun to transfer operations from the city’s terminals to the new Pasir Panjang Terminal, which will house most of the port activities until Tuas is operational, to starting from 2021. The lease contract for Pasir Panjang expires in 2040. “There is not enough land in Pasir Panjang to accommodate the further growth in trading volumes and the possible relocation of goods from city terminals when leases expire” , a PSA Corporate spokesperson said. LOTS OF COMPETITION
The path taken by Singapore seems to be the right one: container reception grew by 8.9% to 33.7 million containers in 2017, while the shipping industry employed more than 170,000 people and contributed 7% to all. ‘economy.
But if it is true that everything seems to be going the right way, it is also true that it is not said that everything will go well for the City of the Lion. An Alphaliner analyst recalled that Singapore must be wary of regional competitors, such as the Malaysian ports of Klang and Tanjung Pelepas.
Ocean Shipping Consultants Director Jason Chiang also recalled that Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand have invested heavily in modern deep-sea rigs.
