Port of Singapore defeats 19 other nominees

Named ‘Best Seaport in Asia’ and ‘Best Green Service Provider – Seaport’ to remain as the port of choice in the region.

At the 24th Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards held in Shanghai, the Port of Singapore not only took home the ‘Best Seaport in Asia’ for the 22nd time, it also bagged the ‘Best Green Service Provider – Seaport’ award for the first time. As the driving force behind Singapore's port and maritime development, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) received the awards on behalf of the Port of Singapore, according to a Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore report.

“The awards underscore Singapore’s continued commitment to enhance port and shipping efficiency in our pursuit towards environmentally-friendly and efficient shipping. We are committed to working in close partnerships with the industry and stakeholders to facilitate the development of businesses and the development of Singapore as a global hub port and an international maritime centre,” said MPA Chief Executive, Mr Lam Yi Young.

Singapore’s strong commitment to environmentally-friendly shipping and port activities is underscored by the country being compliant with environment regulations set by national and global bodies, such as being a party to all the Annexes of the International Maritime Organization’s MARPOL convention, consistent application of environment standards and investment in green initiatives and technology.

To ensure environmentally-friendly shipping in its port, Singapore, on 31 December 2009, deposited the Instrument of Accession to the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships, 2001 with the IMO. MPA is also driving maritime R&D in clean technologies in partnership with tertiary research institutions and the industry, supported by MPA’s S$100 million Maritime Innovation and Technology Fund.

The Port of Singapore was chosen above 12 other nominees in the ‘Best Seaport in Asia’ category for her cost competitiveness, container shipping-friendly fee regime, suitable container shipping-related infrastructure, timely and adequate investment in new infrastructure to meet future demand and facilitation of ancillary services, including logistics and freight forwarding facilities. The other 12 nominees were the ports of Hong Kong, Shanghai Yangshan, Busan, Klang, Kaohsiung, Laem Chabang, Tanjung Pelepas, Manila, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Dalian.

For the ‘Best Green Service Provider – Seaport’ award, the other 7 nominees for the award were the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Tacoma, Vancouver and Brisbane.

At the same awards ceremony, PSA Singapore was conferred the ‘Best Container Terminal Asia’ (over 4 million TEUs per year), PSA International was awarded the ‘Best Global Container Terminal Operating Company’ and Jurong Port received the ‘Best Container Terminal Asia’ award (Under 1 million TEUs per year).

Singapore’s port performance
In 2009, the Port of Singapore continued to maintain its global leading position on bunker sales, vessel arrival tonnage and containers handled despite the decline in world trade. Singapore’s vessel arrival in terms of shipping tonnage reached 1.78 billion gross tons (GT), an increase of 10.1 percent from 2008. Container traffic totaled 25.9 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent (TEUs), and the total volume of bunkers sold grew 4.2 percent to reach 36.4 million tonnes.