Ultra-large vessels steer clear of Singapore’s outdated ports

Singapore will struggle to beat Shanghai.

Singapore’s small ports are being left out of the race to dock the world’s largest container vessels. The city-state has been woefully slow in adapting to the latest trend of ‘bigger is better’, and this could jeopardize Singapore’s position as an important conduit of global trade.

According to BMI Research, Singapore’s relatively smaller ports will be unable to cater to a large number of mega vessels that are coming online in the near future.

“This is dangerous for a port in Singapore's position as it potentially means being left off rotations,” BMI Research warned.

For instance, Singapore’s port has been left out on the rotation the 18,000TEU capacity Triple E-Type vessel, the first of which was launched by Maersk Line in July 2013. Hong Kong is set to be the Asian transhipment point for this vessel.

Although Singapore has rolled out measures to upgrade its facilities, the USD3.5b port expansion project is only due to be fully operational by the end of 2017.

“This could damage the port's role globally as it will not be able to handle the new class of mega vessels that are coming online, which BMI believes will mean that the facility will not be able to attract enough new custom to reclaim the top position from Shanghai,” the report noted.