GWR
10-01-08, 10:43 PM
January 10, 2008 23:12 PM
Singapore Maintains Record As World's Busiest Port
SINGAPORE, Jan 10 (Bernama) -- Singapore looks set to maintain its lead as the world's busiest port in terms of shipping tonnage, the world's top bunkering port and major container transhipment hub.
Its maritime sector has achieved new records with double-digit growth in shipping tonnage of vessel arrivals, bunker sales, container throughput and ships registered under the Singapore flag last year.
These notable achievements were announced by Singapore's Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Raymond Lim at a New Year reception organised by the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) here tonight.
Lim said vessel arrivals in terms of shipping tonnage reached 1,459 million gross tons (GT) in 2007, which represented an increase of some 11 per cent from the 1,315 million GT record set in 2006.
He said container ships were the top contributors, accounting for 36.1 per cent of the total vessel arrival tonnage and tankers came in a close second, contributing 30.5 per cent to the total figure.
Container traffic in 2007 hit 27.9 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a 12.7 per cent increase from the 24.8 million TEUs handled in 2006, he added.
The minister said the total cargo tonnage handled by the Port of Singapore last year climbed 7.8 per cent over 2006 to reach 483.4 million tonnes.
He said the total volume of bunkers sold in the Port of Singapore scaled a new high last year, crossing the 30 million mark for the first time to reach 31.5 million tonnes. Last year's sales surpassed 2006's figures by 11.2 per cent.
The Singapore Registry of Ships also chalked up good growth with the total tonnage of ships under the Singapore flag growing by some 13.8 per cent over 2006 to reach 39.6 million GT as of the end of last December, he said.
Commenting on the strong performance, Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) Tay Lim Heng said the good results reinforced Singapore's status as a global hub port.
They also reflected the successful partnership between the MPA and the industry as Singapore developed further as an international maritime centre, he said.
The MPA said in a statement that it would continue to work closely with the maritime industry to further enhance the competitiveness of its maritime sector and address key challenges facing the industry such as manpower development and environmental protection.
MPA will launch a new maritime careers website in which maritime companies can advertise their vacancies and provide in-depth descriptions of the industry's diverse sectors, such as ship brokering and chartering, ship financing, maritime law and arbitration, and offshore and marine engineering.
MPA will also be revising its "Gate System" for licensing bunker tankers, which was implemented in January 2005 to better safeguard the environment in Singapore's port waters.
From this April, new harbour craft licences would be issued only to bunker tankers that comply with the limits on nitrogen oxide emissions from ships as laid out under the International Maritime Organisation's MARPOL convention, the MPA said.
-- BERNAMA
Non-specific link:
http://www.bernama.com.my/
Singapore Maintains Record As World's Busiest Port
SINGAPORE, Jan 10 (Bernama) -- Singapore looks set to maintain its lead as the world's busiest port in terms of shipping tonnage, the world's top bunkering port and major container transhipment hub.
Its maritime sector has achieved new records with double-digit growth in shipping tonnage of vessel arrivals, bunker sales, container throughput and ships registered under the Singapore flag last year.
These notable achievements were announced by Singapore's Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Raymond Lim at a New Year reception organised by the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) here tonight.
Lim said vessel arrivals in terms of shipping tonnage reached 1,459 million gross tons (GT) in 2007, which represented an increase of some 11 per cent from the 1,315 million GT record set in 2006.
He said container ships were the top contributors, accounting for 36.1 per cent of the total vessel arrival tonnage and tankers came in a close second, contributing 30.5 per cent to the total figure.
Container traffic in 2007 hit 27.9 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a 12.7 per cent increase from the 24.8 million TEUs handled in 2006, he added.
The minister said the total cargo tonnage handled by the Port of Singapore last year climbed 7.8 per cent over 2006 to reach 483.4 million tonnes.
He said the total volume of bunkers sold in the Port of Singapore scaled a new high last year, crossing the 30 million mark for the first time to reach 31.5 million tonnes. Last year's sales surpassed 2006's figures by 11.2 per cent.
The Singapore Registry of Ships also chalked up good growth with the total tonnage of ships under the Singapore flag growing by some 13.8 per cent over 2006 to reach 39.6 million GT as of the end of last December, he said.
Commenting on the strong performance, Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) Tay Lim Heng said the good results reinforced Singapore's status as a global hub port.
They also reflected the successful partnership between the MPA and the industry as Singapore developed further as an international maritime centre, he said.
The MPA said in a statement that it would continue to work closely with the maritime industry to further enhance the competitiveness of its maritime sector and address key challenges facing the industry such as manpower development and environmental protection.
MPA will launch a new maritime careers website in which maritime companies can advertise their vacancies and provide in-depth descriptions of the industry's diverse sectors, such as ship brokering and chartering, ship financing, maritime law and arbitration, and offshore and marine engineering.
MPA will also be revising its "Gate System" for licensing bunker tankers, which was implemented in January 2005 to better safeguard the environment in Singapore's port waters.
From this April, new harbour craft licences would be issued only to bunker tankers that comply with the limits on nitrogen oxide emissions from ships as laid out under the International Maritime Organisation's MARPOL convention, the MPA said.
-- BERNAMA
Non-specific link:
http://www.bernama.com.my/