Port of Singapore nabs best Asian seaport title

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The Port of Singapore won the “Best Seaport in Asia” and “Best Green Service Provider—Seaport” awards at the 26th edition of the Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards held June 5 in China.

Singapore topped the “Best Seaport in Asia” category for an unprecedented 24th time against competitors that included Busan, Dalian, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Klang, Laem Chabang, Manila, Ningbo, Shenzhen, Tanjung Pelepas, Tianjin, and Yangshan.

“These awards are testament to the good support that we have received from the industry and stakeholders to develop Singapore into a choice port of call,” said Lam Yi Young, chief executive of port regulator Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

Criteria for judging included cost competitiveness, container shipping-friendly fee regime, provision of suitable container shipping-related infrastructure, timely and adequate investment in new infrastructure to meet future demand, and the facilitation of ancillary services including logistics and freight-forwarding facilities.

Singapore also received the “Best Green Service Provider—Seaport” award for the second time for its efforts to promote environmentally friendly shipping. Other contenders in the category were Brisbane, Hamburg, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Rotterdam,Tacoma, and Vancouver.

Singapore’s port reached record throughput figures of 29.9 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers and 530.5 million tonnes of cargo  in 2011. Annual vessel arrival tonnage also crossed the two billion gross tons (GT) mark to reach 2.12 billion GT for the first time in 2011, while bunker sales reached a new record of 43.2 million tonnes.

 

Photo: ashkyd