Singapore's maritime container throughput up 10.7 pct in Q1

SINGAPORE, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's maritime container throughput grew 10.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter this year, with the vessel arrival tonnage increased by 7.3 percent, said Chee Hong Tat, minister for transport, at the opening ceremony for Singapore Maritime Week 2024 Monday.

The minister noted that the construction of Tuas Port in the western part of Singapore is in steady progress with eight berths in operation and three additional berths to commence operations by the end of this year.

Tuas Port will be the world's largest automated container terminal, with a handling capacity of 65 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) when the port is fully completed in the 2040s, Chee added.

Singapore handled 39.01 million TEUs last year, and the vessel arrival tonnage reached 3.09 billion gross tons, both new records for the maritime hub.

Chee also announced building Singapore into the hub for maritime innovation, reliable and resilient maritime operations, and maritime talent development.

To achieve such goals, he said Singapore will prepare the ports for eco-friendly fuel, develop an AI-assist vessel traffic management system, and build the Maritime Energy Training Facility to cultivate 10,000 seafarers and other maritime personnel by the 2030s.

The Singapore Maritime Week 2024, showcasing the latest opinions and solutions to achieve a net-zero future, will last till April 18.